1998 SOUTHERN AFRICA ECONOMIC ... - National Treasury

The current status of the project is as fo l l ow s :
In order to facilitate the implementation of the project a
c o m p a ny called the Maputo Corridor Company has been
fo r m e d . The head office is being set up in Map u t o, while the
branch office in Nelspruit has been operational for some time.
It is expected that 65 percent of the company will be owned by
private sector entities, and the remaining 35 percent be share d
b e t ween the governments of Mozambique, South A f r i c a ,
S w a z i l a n d ,B o t swana and Zimbabwe. The company ’s role is
f a c i l i t a t i ve and any gove r n m e n t - t o - government agreements are
handled by the re s p e c t i ve line ministries in the countries
c o n c e r n e d .
The Maputo corridor is the most advanced of the thre e
c o rridors planned in Mozambique. The corridor has incre a s e d
the regional cooperation between Mozambique, South A f r i c a
and Swaziland (the latter through the connecting Lubombo
c o rridor) and has been influential in the increase of inve s t m e n t s
in Mozambique and in the Mpumalanga province of South A f r i c a
l a t e ly. The two other corridors that are in more or less
advanced stages in Mozambique are the Beira corr i d o r, w h i c h
has long been an important link for Zimbabwean international
trade with the port in Beira, although the concept of it
becoming a development corridor is fairly new. L i kewise are the
plans for the Nacala development corridors in a first stage.
These two corridors are mentioned under Inve s t m e n t
O p p o rtunities below.
P r i v a t i s a t i o n
The Mozambican privatisation programme is considered one of
the most extensive in A f r i c a ,in terms of the number of entities
i nvo l ve d .The country saw an extensive nationalisation campaign
in the mid-70s, which included small and medium companies
i nvo l ved in commerce and the service industry, explaining the
g reat number of concerns invo l ved in the present privatisation
p ro g r a m m e. The programme is governed by two pieces of
l e g i s l a t i o n , a 1989 bill permitting the sale of state ow n e d
e n t e r p r i s e s , and the 1991 main privatisation law which
establishes the rules of the restructuring process and the re -
dimensioning of state-owned businesses, including the
privatisation and sale of enterprises, industrial plants, b u i l d i n g s
and shares belonging to the state.
Tr a n s fer of state-owned companies can be effectuated in seve r a l
w ay s : sale by public tender, public offer of share s , p r i v a t e
n e gotiation of restricted tender preceded by pre - q u a l i f i c a t i o n ,
M O Z A M B IQ U E
The Maputo Development Corridor Infrastructure Investments
P ro j e c t S t a t u s Amount (USDm)
M ap u t o - W i t b a n k The concessionaire Trans African Concessions was given ap p roval to 400
toll ro a d
commence the upgrading and construction of the road in December of last
ye a r, after it announced that it had raised the capital and loan financing for the
p ro j e c t .The work is due to start in March 1998, and is expected to be
completed by late 2001. The concession has been granted on a 30 year
build-operate and transfer basis.
Rehabilitation of Final bids are curre n t ly being evaluated to establish a joint ve n t u re 85
the port of Map u t o (public/private sector) company to manage, operate and maintain port
and dre d g i n g .
Rehabilitation of the Final bids are curre n t ly being evaluated to establish a joint ve n t u re 70
r a i lw ay network of (public/private sector) company to manage, operate and maintain the port
M ap u t o
and the dredging of the port and channel.
Ressano Garc i a / Bilateral agreement to develop a single facility/one-stop border post has been 33
Ko m a t i p o o rt bord e r d r awn up and negotiations are ongo i n g . A thre e - year construction project is
post p l a n n e d .
S o u rc e :M aputo Corridor Company (1998), South A f r i c a ,M a rc h
joint ve n t u re, t r a n s fer or sale of shares to managers and
e m p l oye e s , granting of management of lease concessions.
Managers and employees have the right to acquire up to 20
p e rcent of shares in companies being privatised.
To date, ap p rox i m a t e ly 740 small, medium and large enterprises
h ave been re s t r u c t u re d .Not all ve n t u res have been successful,
some companies have turned out not to be viable, w h e re a s
other sales have been affected by administrative short c o m i n g s
and cumbersome bureaucratic pro c e d u re s . H oweve r, t h e
p rocess has been positive in general and the country is
experiencing a substantial increase in production in privatised
e n t i t i e s . Most companies have been sold to Mozambican
e n t re p re n e u r s ,although around 50 percent of the equity have
come from fo reign sourc e s . Main fo reign investors are fro m
Po rt u g a l ,South Africa and the UK.
The privatisation programme is administered by thre e
i n s t i t u t i o n s . The Technical Unit for Enterprise Restructuring
(UTRE) deals with large and strategic enterprises, the Office fo r
Restructuring of Industrial Enterprises, C o m m e rce and To u r i s m
(GREICT) deals with the tourism sector and small and medium
sized industrial enterprises, and the Unit for Restructuring of
Agricultural Enterprises (GREAP) deals with agricultural
c o m p a n i e s .
During 1997/98 the privatisation of large scale enterprise
include the fo l l owing sectors: sea fre i g h t , consumer go o d s ,
b rew i n g , sugar cane, tea and copra plantations, i rr i g a t i o n s
s y s t e m s , gemstones and insurance companies. The tender
p rocess for the partial privatisation of the national airline LAM
came to a halt in March of this ye a r. It is possible that a new
tender will be launched later in the ye a r. In November 1997
plans to launch a tender to re form the telecommu n i c a t i o n s
sector we re re l e a s e d . Te l e c o m munications in Mozambique
(TDM) has a monopoly on communication services (except the
Internet) and its privatisation, which is planned to take place in
1999 , should attract considerable interest from fo re i g n
i nve s t o r s . TDM re g i s t e red a profit of around USD4 m in 1996.
I N V E S T M E N T C L I M AT E
I nvestment Promotion A gency
The Investment Promotion Centre,or Centro de Promoção de
I nvestimentos (CPI), was established in 1984 in order to make
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