The Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) states that Açucareira da Maragra, in the southern province of Maputo, will be able to resume its activities before the start of the next agricultural season.
The sugar factory is at a standstill after the floods that occurred last February, which damaged a considerable part of the equipment and affected sugar cane production. The damage caused amounts to several tens of millions of dollars.
To this end, the sugar company will count on new investors, and the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Silvino Moreno, ensures that the government intervenes so that the company's recovery process does not harm workers, as well as the national economy.
“There are efforts to recover it [the company] and I think it is at an advanced stage, we believe that it will be working by next season”, said Moreno this Monday (04), in a brief contact with the press, at district of Marracuene, on the sidelines of the opening of the XXI Coordinating Council of the MIC, a three-day event taking place under the motto: “Industrializing Mozambique: Creating Bases for Integrated and Sustainable Development”.
According to the minister, the Mozambican authorities are interested in the company operating again. Therefore, said Silvino “what we will do as a government is to facilitate this process of transfer or sale to other investors to happen smoothly, and we have information that this process is already on a good track”.
The government official said, in providing figures, that the destruction caused to the company by the weather means that large investments will be needed for its recovery.
“For now, and based on the information we have, there is a new company that will take care of Maragra in the near future”, he said, highlighting that in this process of ownership transition, the government has no objection, it is only up to ensure that the rules that govern the materialization of the process.
It is estimated that the shutdown of the Maragra sugar company affects around five thousand workers, including permanent and seasonal workers.
