Maputo — Mozambique’s public electricity company, EDM, may be forced to revise downwards this year’s target for new connections to the national electricity grid, because of the constraints caused by the pandemic of the new coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.
Cited in Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, EDM spokesperson Luis Amado said the company is assessing the impact of the disease on its portfolio of projects, and its plans to bring electricity to more consumers.
“EDM is not an island”, he said, and just like every other company, it would suffer the economic fallout from the pandemic.
Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, EDM had hoped that it would establish at least 300,000 new connections, mostly to homes, this year.
If the target is indeed reduced, it would be the second consecutive year that EDM has been forced to change its plans. In 2019, EDM had also planned to make 300,000 new connections, but cyclones Idai and Kenneth, which struck the country in March and April, made it impossible to fulfil these plans.
By the end of 2019, EDM had only achieved 165,000 new connections, or 55 per cent of the target figure.
In the northern province of Nampula, the largest poultry producer in northern Mozambique “Novos Horizontes”, 15 kilometres outside Nampula city, finds itself with huge quantities of unsold chickens on its hands. The company blames this on the collapse of tourism, caused by the Covid-1 pandemic.
The company’s accountant, Etelvino Zuber, cited in the independent daily “O Pais”, said most of the clients had been hotels, restaurants, and take-aways, which have been severely hit by the pandemic.
Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, EDM had hoped that it would establish at least 300,000 new connections, mostly to homes, this year.
If the target is indeed reduced, it would be the second consecutive year that EDM has been forced to change its plans. In 2019, EDM had also planned to make 300,000 new connections, but cyclones Idai and Kenneth, which struck the country in March and April, made it impossible to fulfil these plans.
By the end of 2019, EDM had only achieved 165,000 new connections, or 55 per cent of the target figure.
In the northern province of Nampula, the largest poultry producer in northern Mozambique “Novos Horizontes”, 15 kilometres outside Nampula city, finds itself with huge quantities of unsold chickens on its hands. The company blames this on the collapse of tourism, caused by the Covid-1 pandemic.
The company’s accountant, Etelvino Zuber, cited in the independent daily “O Pais”, said most of the clients had been hotels, restaurants, and take-aways, which have been severely hit by the pandemic.
The company has reacted by cutting its prices by five per cent in the hope of attracting buyers for the 380 tonnes of frozen chickens in its freezers, and the 170,000 live chickens ready to be slaughtered.
Elsewhere in Nampula city, the social distancing measures demanded by the state of emergency are being casually disregarded. Dozens of informal traders are occupying waste land outside the city’s Waresta wholesale market. They have attracted large crowds of clients, which pose an obvious threat of transmitting the disease.
The Nampula municipal police have made no attempt to stop this violation of the state of emergency regulations, and the informal traders themselves justified their illegal activity with the usual excuse that they have no other way of earning a living.
The director of communications in the municipal council, Nelson Carvalho, said he knew nothing about the situation – even though “Noticias” had no difficulty in photographing the large crowds.
The Mayor of Nampula, Paulo Vahanle, recently declared “war without mercy” against the presence of informal traders in inappropriate places. The traders have simply ignored him and have continued, with apparent impunity, to break the law.
Large crowds are also thronging Nampula railway station, attempting to buy tickets for the passenger trains to Cuamba in the neighbouring province of Niassa. And when the trains arrive, passengers immediately set about selling produce, mainly vegetables, on the platforms. There s no attempt to observe the social distancing rules.
The Secretary of State for Nampula, Mety Gondola, recently visited the station and considered the situation worrying. “I left clear guidelines to strengthen measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic”, he said. But those guidelines are clearly being disregarded.
Gondola said he has also instructed Nampula municipality to put an end to the anarchy that occurs in the station whenever a train arrives. These instructions too have been ignored.
Source: Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique