21 April 2008
Vilankulo — Municipal authorities in the tourist town of Vilankulo, in the southern Mozambican Inhambane province, are working out a project to solve the problem of soil erosion.
The project also includes the opening of a road along the coast.
The municipal authorities are planning to launch a public tender by August or September to adjudicate the work, budgeted at about five million US dollars, to be financed by the World Bank.
'The problem of soil erosion is a serious one, and its solution is quite expensive. But we have already selected a few companies, who are designing projects to protect the coast and open a road', said Vilankulo mayor Suleimane Amugi.
Speaking to AIM along the celebrations of the 44th anniversary of the town on Friday, Amugi stressed that the aim is to stop soil erosion along the coast, improve its general aspect, and encourage tourism.
Besides the project to protect the coast, Vilankulo expects to spend about 25 million meticais (one million US dollars), before the end of this year, to rebuild two markets that were destroyed by the 'Favio' cyclone, and to rehabilitate some of the roads in this municipality.
Rehabilitation of markets is estimated at 11 million meticais.
Speaking of power supply, Amugi expressed hope of improvements, saying that the publicly owned Mozambican distributor company EDM is already working towards that end.
'Clients must pay, of course, but the company is also expected to render a good service. EDM is already showing improvements. We believe that as time passes they will reach perfection. The former power supply company, the Mozambique Power supply Company (ENMO) would only care for their own profit, in detriment of the good quality of service to the public', said Amugi.
In 2007, the Mozambican government revoked the contract with ENMO for production and distribution of electricity to supply the northern region of Inhambane and Vilankulo, using gas from the Temane field, because of the company's bad performance.
Commenting on the fast development of his municipality, Amugi called for the town to be promoted to the category of a city. 'Some Mozambican cities can hardly compare with Vilankulo town. I believe that soon Vilankulo will be promoted to the category of a city because the level of development of infrastructures is higher than in some cities in the country'.
He stressed that until it gains the category of a city, Vilankulo is set to loose, particularly concerning the established rules for the allocation of budgets.
He said that Vilankulo has been recording a significant social and economic growth. From 19,000 inhabitants in 1997, the town counts now about 40,000, a growth of more than 100 per cent in a decade.
Amugi also gave the example of the area of education, where the town counts, as from this year, with a higher education institution on rural development.
Asked about his eventual re-running as Vilankulo mayor, Amugi noted that the progress of the town is not only his work, but of all residents of the municipality.
'I am just the leader, but who is doing the work are all the residents of the municipality. I would not like to speak of my re-running or otherwise, because my big objective now is to continue doing my work until the end of my mandate', he said.
Dates are not yet fixed, but the next municipal elections are due before the end of this year.
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