The Government of Mozambique is planning to construct 35,000 housing units for its population within five years and they want to guarantee some of the investment required during the 6th international Infrastructure Investment & Construction Forum taking place at The Venetian until today. “Concerning housing, around 2.5 million families have unfavourable living conditions in Mozambique and this government’s 5-year plan has the goal of constructing at least 35,000 social housing units”, the Vice-Minister of Public Works and Housing of Mozambique, João Osvaldo Moisés Machatine, said on the sidelines of the event. “We are in Macau looking for investors that can help us to accomplish this goal and provide housing for our population”. In total, this project will involve an investment of around US$400 million (MOP3.2 billion) from a total planned investment of roughly US$8 billion (MOP63.9 billion) that the hovernment has projected for all the public works it is planning to construct within 5 years. While last year the Macau company Charlestrong Engineering, Technology and Consulting Ltd. showed interest in constructing 50,000 houses in Mozambique, yesterday Mr. Machatine revealed that they would sign a memorandum of understanding for the construction of 20,000 social housing units in the African country. “This company is already in Mozambique building 240 houses, which will be completed in September. They have been a good partner, mainly concerning the housing area”, he explained. However, the Mozambican Government is also in Macau searching for investment in other infrastructure and dams that are considered essential. “It will help us to mitigate the constant problems caused by the floods which have been affecting our country. With these dams, we also want to have the capacity to generate power and to boost our agricultural sector with land irrigation”, he said. Macau as a platform During the interview, the Vice-Minister of Public Works and Housing of Mozambique was asked if Macau was accomplishing its mission as a platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries. He praised the territory, saying, “We recognise the role of Macau and that is clearly demonstrated by the General Consulate that we opened in the territory. We also have a representative of the government in the Macau Forum and we think Macau is the interface for the Portuguese-speaking countries to connect with China and Chinese investment. We do not talk about Macau and China separately because we consider them part of the same country. This shows that Macau has been very important as a platform”. He also said that Chinese investment will have an important role to play in the development of the African country. “Considering the foreign investment in Mozambique, around 60 to 70 per cent has been Chinese capital. We believe Chinese capital will continue to have an important role to play in the development of Mozambique”, he said.
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