Moz okays $280m biofuel project
2008-07-16 13:55
Maputo - The Mozambican government has approved a $280m biofuel project, says cabinet spokesperson Luis Covane.
The project would be set up in the central Manica province on an 18 000-hectare piece of land, which would be cultivated with sugar cane to be used to produce ethanol.
Covane said the project belonged to Mozambique Principle Energy, a company owned by Mozambican and Mauritian investors.
Its parent company, Principle Capital, was registered in London, and also had offices in Geneva and Cape Town, South Africa. The shareholding of the investors was not immediately known.
The company would start production in 2013 and would produce 213 million litres of ethanol per year, from the 2.5 million tons of sugar cane to be produced annually on the company's fields.
At least 2 650 people were expected to be employed at the company, Covane said. Mozambique had stepped up investment in alternative energy generating projects as a way of reducing costs of importing fuel.
- SAPA