Mozambique: JICA to prioritise development of Nacala rail corridor

http://www.trademarksa.org/news/jica-prioritise-development-nacala-rail-corridor

Maputo: The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has told Mozambican Prime Minister Aires Ali that it plans to prioritise the development of the Nacala rail corridor in northern Mozambique in its plans for the next five years.

The deputy chairperson of JICA, Tsuneo Kurokawa, was speaking in Tokyo on Tuesday at a meeting between Ali and the sub-Saharan Africa Committee of Keidnren (the Japanese Business Federation).

Kurokawa said that JICA's activities in Mozambique would also focus on upgrading the roads from Nampula and Cuamba and from Cuamba to Lichinga, in the far north of the country, as well as on sanitation and water supply, and improving education facilities.

According to a report in Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", Kurokawa added that Japan is interested in developing projects in energy, mineral resources, industry, and agricultural development - particularly through the Pro-Savana programme, which is a triangular cooperation arrangement between Mozambique, Brazil and Japan.

Pro-Savana will be implemented in districts along the Nacala Corridor, with the aim of boosting food security and improving the competitiveness of Mozambican agriculture. Pro-Savana was launched in April 2011, and this April a Japanese delegation will visit Mozambique to discuss progress in the first year.

Responding to the interest shown in Mozambique by Japanese businesses, Ali stressed that the country has enormous untapped potential for agriculture, in that only five million hectares of land are currently under cultivation, although the total amount of arable land in Mozambique is estimated at 36 million hectares.

"Our annual per capita national income is now about 500 US dollars", said Ali. "But if we promote some of these activities, including those envisaged for the Nacala Corridor, I think that within the next five to ten years, we can reach a per capita income of 1,000 dollars or more".

Also on Tuesday, Ali met with his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda, and received the chairmen of two major Japanese companies with interests in Mozambique, Mitsui and Nippon Steel.

Mitsui is a shareholder in the Mozal aluminium smelter on the outskirts of Maputo, and holds 20 per cent in one of the offshore natural gas exploration projects in northern Mozambique. Nippon steel is involved in coal exploration, and eventually mining, in the western province of Tete.