Beluluane National Park (BIP) has changed its name to MozParks Holding- Parques Industriais e Zonas Francas, SA.

The decision, first considered at management level, was consolidated after a working visit to the park by Minister of Industry and Commerce Carlos Alberto Mesquita, who suggested the creation of a chain of industrial parks under the PRONAI programme, as a way of boosting industrial development in the country.

The General Director of the now MozParks, Onório Boane, said in an interview with Voz do Empresário that, in order to replicate the Beluluane Industrial Park (BIP) model throughout the country, it was decided to create a holding company as a way to standardise the management of industrial parks and match BIP’s success.

“In this exercise, the first thing that changed was, of course, our identity. We will have the Beluluane Industrial Park not as our identity, but simply as a park, because our vision is that the industrial parks in each province be named after the place where they are located. This is an issue linked to valuing local content,” Boane explained.

“It will be like that at the Topuíto Industrial Park, which will effectively be our first experience outside Maputo. The park is located in the district of Larde, formerly known as Moma, in Nampula province, around the Kenmare heavy sands project,” he continued.

Onório Boane says that, similarly to BIP, which was created to support the Mozal megaproject, the Topuíto Industrial Park will, in its first phase, serve the needs of Kenmare, as a heavy sands exploiter.

“We want to ensure that we create conditions around Kenmare to house industrial and service provider companies as a way of promoting local content and reducing imports, given that, around megaprojects which do not have an industrial park, most components and other equipment is imported,” he said.

Meanwhile, diversification in these parks will take place over the years, as companies master their business models, Onório pointed out.

“That’s how it happened in BIP. From 2000, when we started operations, until 2005, 100% of the companies headquartered there provided services to Mozal. From 2006 to now, I can categorically state that only 30% serve Mozal. We inverted the graph. It means that 70% feeds the provincial market, nationally and internationally, through exports,” Boane declared.

Based on the experience with Mozal, which, despite diversification, maintained its share of companies headquartered in the park, the plan is to create a range of opportunities to benefit the economy as a whole.

“The diversification in BIP actually grew in a quite larger proportion compared to the companies that provide services to the megaproject. Although our approach is aimed at installing the industrial park in the context of anchor projects, at BIP we now have hair, food processing and cashew nut companies, along with construction material and cement companies, among others. Larde it will be like that, too. Initially, it will be focussed around Kenmare, but there are many opportunities in Nampula province in the various districts,” he asserts.

 

MozParks project dimension and progress

As part of the expansion of the industrial parks, MozParks plans to develop a total of 1,000 hectares in each province, and the feasibility study in Larde has already been completed. This feasibility study, Onório Manuel says, was critical in making the investment decision. It was positive, which allowed for the next phase – of articulation with local entities – to prepare the areas to be explored.

“In the first phase of Topuíto industrial park, we hope to see 215 hectares developed. This October, we will start a pre-phase that will consist of installing all the infrastructure in the 15 hectares which will house the first companies.

“We are in the initial phase of the works at the site, which was preceded by the entire administrative process that we now consider concluded. Only the implementation of the aforementioned infrastructures on the ground remains to be finished,” he clarified.

Onório Boane revealed that MozParks’ second industrial park will be in Cabo Delgado, specifically in Montepuez district, where it is intended to install an agro-park, with a strong focus on promoting access to the market.

The director-general of MozParks says that the company wants to take the greatest possible advantage of the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic and increasingly promote self-sufficiency in the national industry.

“Throughout this year (2021), we managed to consolidate and show resilience in the face of a world-wide crisis. The companies in the park were able to produce what Mozal imported before the pandemic. In other words, the pandemic challenged the park’s companies to produce various types of equipment, and many engineering and metalworking companies did so with great success, which shows that in the face of crises, the park is able to respond,” Boane concluded.