Portucel Moçambique has already planted 13,200 hectare of land with eucalyptus “clones”, an area that is 3.7% of the 356,000 hectares included in the Land Use and Utilisation Title (DUAT) granted to the company in the central provinces of Manica and Zambézia, the company’s chief executive said recently in Maputo.
João Lé, during a public launch of the Consultative Council of Portucel Moçambique (CCP), a model for liaison between civil society organisations, the private sector and the government, said that the work carried out since 2015 represents an investment of 110 million euros carried out by Portuguese group The Navigator Company.
Portucel Moçambique was set up by the Portuguese group formerly known as Portucel Soporcel in 2009, when it obtained a DUAT title for 173,000 thousand hectares in Zambézia province and 183,000 hectares in the province of Manica, two thirds of which will be planted with eucalyptus “to ensure that people can stay where they live and to ensure the preservation of cultural and environmental values.”
AAMoc, an international non-governmental organisation, is one of the five elected civil society members of the CCP, along with the Rural Mutual Assistance Organisation (ORAM), the Development Aid for People’s Human Rights (PNDH) and the Mozambican Civil Society Platform for Social Protection (PSCMPS).
Portuguese group The Navigator Company intends to invest US$3 billion in this project, which is expected to create 7,000 direct and many more indirect jobs and be one of the largest businesses in Mozambique outside the extractive industry.
Source: macauhub