Maputo — The central Mozambican city of Beira needs 450 million dollars to mitigate devastating erosion, in the context of Post Cyclone Reconstruction.

The cyclone in question is Idai, which left a trail of destruction across Beira in March 2019.

"The erosion is generating a great problem in the coastal zone of Beira and a lot of people fear that waters from sea, in the near future, may invade the city', said the Beira city Councillor for Construction and Urbanization, Augusto Manhoca, cited in Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias.'

According to Manhoca, "the city is not sufficiently prepared to face extreme events. We learned from Cyclone Idai that the power of nature cannot be underestimated. We must create a great capacity for resilience in our infrastructures.'

"As an emergency measure, the German Development Bank has disbursed one million Euros to pave Mateus Sansão Muthemba Avenue, in the coastal zone', he said.

The Councillor also revealed that construction work of the coastal protection and drainage system, budgeted at 60 million dollars, will soon be carried out.

"The project is funded by the World Bank, and the German and Dutch governments. With the drainage system, the storm waters will be drained rapidly', Manhoca explained.