SEZs attract significant investment

There are plans to establish Special Economic Zones (SEZs) throughout Mozambique, including the gateway ports of Nacala, Beira and Beluluane (Maputo), to support industrialisation and the vision to be a regional logistics hub. Beluluane is the oldest of the privately operated Industrial Free Zones, at 25 years this year. According to the operator, MozParks, the anchor investor was the Mozal aluminium smelter. It now houses more than 70 companies from 20 different countries, supporting over 10 000 jobs, according to MozParks. “Beluluane’s first 25 years show what Mozambique can achieve with the right mix of infrastructure, policy and partnership. We’ve built jobs, diversified suppliers and delivered reliable power. Our focus now is scaling this model nationwide,” says MozParks general director, Onório Manuel. The company is leading a national industrialisation plan to develop 20 industrial parks across every province, replicating the Beluluane model to multiply opportunities for job creation, SME linkages and investment attraction. This includes a partnership with Cabo Delgado Parks, an initiative of the provincial government of Cabo Delgado, to establish six industrial parks across the province to host suppliers, manufacturers and service providers connected to large-scale projects. The provincial government has formally approved a new legal framework that requires suppliers and service providers linked to extractive industry anchor projects to be based within designated industrial parks and logistics bases. This framework emphasises the importance of operating in structured industrial environments, where infrastructure, security and services are delivered in a coordinated way, according to MozParks. Established in 2007 as the first publicly operated Special Economic Zone, the Nacala SEZ is run by APIEX Mozambique, the government investment and export promotion agency. APIEX director-general Gil Bires describes it as “a leading industrial hub in the country”. We currently have over 100 companies operating there across different sectors, from industry to agro-industry and services,” he told the AIM news agency. According to the website, the Nacala SEZ has 194 approved investment projects, valued at around $2.5 billion, with the potential to create 25 018 jobs for nationals. The Manga-Mungassa SEZ in Beira was established in 2012. It has eight authorised and operational projects, with an approved investment of $509 million, supporting 2 396 jobs for nationals Another major SEZ is planned for a much-delayed deepwater port at Macuse. Work is due to start on a 500-kilometre rail link to the mines in Tete province in 2026 after pre-construction funding of $900m was secured. ER