Mozambique: Building a dam in Mapai a priority to reduce flooding – Minister

Mozambique’s government said on Thursday that the construction of a dam in the district of Mapai, in the Gaza province, the area most affected by the January floods, is a national priority, noting that the reservoir would reduce flooding in the country. “What is happening in the Limpopo basin would not be happening as it is if the Limpopo River were controlled. All the water, not only from local rains but also from the inland countries, flows directly to the lowlands of Limpopo and Chókwè (…) we must build the Mapai dam as a national priority,” Mozambican Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries, Roberto Albino, told journalists from the United Arab Emirates, in Dubai, where he is attending an investment seminar.

Minister Albino admitted that such a dam would not fully solve the flooding problem, as it will “always be necessary to open the floodgates” due to rising waters, but it could at least “reduce the impact” of floods in that province. Roberto Albino also noted the government’s interest in pooling efforts to resume projects to build robust infrastructure for water containment, observing that Mozambique has “stalled in time”. “We must resume this, and it is already part of the agenda (…).

We came here, to the United Arab Emirates, with a single project, an integrated project of energy generation, water and food security, which is our Mapai dam (…). If we said we would build this dam, surely it may take whatever time it needs, but we have to build it,” emphasised the Mozambican minister. The Mapai district, more than 300 kilometres north of Xai-Xai city, the provincial capital of Gaza, remains isolated from the rest of the districts, some of which are besieged due to the January floods that affected more than 720,000 people in Mozambique.

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Also, the president of the Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM), Lutero Simango, on Wednesday in Sofala province, central Mozambique, called for the adoption of a national strategy for water resource management and conservation, pointing to dam construction as a solution to reduce the recurring impact of floods. “There must be a clear strategy for water management and conservation, which necessarily involves building dams,” said Lutero Simango during the delivery of products to resettled families in the Búzi district, also advocating restrictions on occupation of risk areas, which could be transformed “into state reserves”. The politician further argued that the country does not have the capacity to repeatedly respond to the same emergencies, questioning the cost of flood impacts compared to investments in infrastructure.

“They will say dams cost a lot of money. Yes, they cost a lot of money. And the question is this: how much does the impact of floods cost?” Simango asked.

On Wednesday, Lusa reported that a group of businessmen from the United Arab Emirates will visit Mozambique next Wednesday with the aim of deepening the country’s potential in digital transformation, ports, energy, agriculture and mining. Since 7 January, 23 deaths, 145 injuries and nine missing persons have been recorded due to the floods, as well as 3,555 partially destroyed houses, 832 completely destroyed and 165,946 flooded, worsening previous figures.

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