The Mozambican State transferred 1,159 million meticais (16.9 million euros) in 2024 to community development programs with resources obtained from mining and oil extraction, according to official data According to the Government’s data on the 2024 budget execution, all of the funds earmarked for the provincial and district level were transferred, of 840.3 million meticais (12.2 million euros) and 318.7 million meticais (4.7 million euros), corresponding to 7.25% and 2.75%, respectively, of revenues from mining and oil production for the implementation of structural projects and programs aimed at community development.In 2023, Mozambique began allocating 10% of tax revenues from mining and oil production to structural projects in the provinces and to support local communities.The measure was determined by a decree that recognizes the “need to regulate the criteria for allocating and managing the percentage of revenues earmarked for the development of provinces, districts and local communities where mining and oil exploration projects are implemented”.The decree defines that 7.25% of the revenue collected from the Mining Production Tax and the Oil Production Tax will be allocated to the province and districts, “namely for structural projects”, and 2.75% to “local communities”.Of the transfers earmarked for the provinces (7.25%), Manica received the most in 2024, a total of 258.8 million meticais (3.8 million euros), followed by Zambézia, with 170.9 million meticais (2.5 million euros), and Cabo Delgado, with 152.7 million meticais (2.2 million euros).In district-level transfers (2.75%), the community of Nyamanhumbir, in the district of Montepuez, received the most, according to the document, with funding of 21.1 million meticais (306 thousand euros) in 2024 for local projects, resulting from the exploration of rubies in that community in the province of Cabo Delgado.The report states that 11.4 million meticais (166 thousand euros) were transferred to the community of Benga, in the district of Moatize, for a coal exploration area in the province of Tete.The Mozambican government understands “structuring projects” as “those that boost the production sector, aiming at the collective development of a given region”, which are the responsibility of the provincial authorities, and are “eligible for financing” for projects related to technical and professional education, health, agriculture, including infrastructure to support production, dams and irrigation, as well as industry, commerce and fisheries, infrastructure of social and economic interest, namely land use planning, roads, bridges and electrification, water and sanitation, among others.The financing of projects designed and selected to support local communities must be coordinated by the Local Consultative Council, “in accordance with principles of transparency, participation and relevance to the District Development Plan”.The projects involve areas such as education, in the construction of classrooms and their equipment, technical and professional training, health, with community sheds and their equipment, agriculture, with community irrigation, animal breeding and treatment, aquaculture and dams.Projects can also be launched in fisheries and fishing infrastructure, in forestry, through the development of community forests, as well as roads, bridges and means of transport, namely small vessels, of strictly community interest, and in the water and sanitation sector. (ICE MAPUTO)

Fonte notizia: CLUB OF MOZAMBIQUE