Mozambique Oil & Gas: Govt pledges to protect people’s interests in gas resettlement process

The Mozambican government said yesterday that the resettlement process in the district of Palma in Cabo Delgado province to make way for natural gas production will be the best in the country’s history.

The government assurances were given on Wednesday in the Assembly of the Republic by the Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Celso Correia, in response to questions from the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM).

“We are doing everything to make the resettlement plan the best the country has ever had,” Correia said, referring to living conditions for people who will be moved from the area where Italian multinational Eni and America’s Anadarko will produce natural gas.

Human dignity, he continued, was at the heart of the government’s concerns about the resettlement plan.

Correia said that more than 800 public consultations were held with civil society organisations and local communities to develop a resettlement plan in line with the needs of the population.

“We are not taking the side of the companies: we are safeguarding the interests of the population, taking investment dynamics into account,” Correia said.

Palma will host multinationals Eni and Anadarko’s liquefied natural gas production logistics bases. Source: Lusa