The meeting sought to explain to Mozambican businesses technical and legal aspects of the project, in which the government wants Mozambicans to hold a majority of the shares.
"Participation by the national business class should be one of the main indicators for assessing the effectiveness of the strategy of developing and exploiting the natural resources the country possesses", said Energy Minister Salvador Namburete, at the start of the meeting.
The power station, with a planned generating capacity of 1,500 megawatts, will depend on the coal mines to be operated by the Brazilian mining giant, the Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD).
But whereas CVRD holds the concession on exploiting the Moatize coal basin, it will only be a minority shareholder in the power station.
"The Moatize power station is part of a series of electricity generating projects that are a priority for the government", said Namburete.
Such projects were vital to ensure the availability of electricity in order to attract further energy-intensive industrial projects.
Certain projects - such as the third phase of the MOZAL aluminium smelter on the outskirts of Maputo - cannot be implemented until new sources of electricity come on stream.
The whole of southern Africa is facing an energy shortage, and Mozambique with its vast potential for power generations (particularly hydropower) is key to solving this.
So apart from the national market, said Namburete, there was a great expectation throughout the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region that Mozambique will be able to reduce the current electricity deficit.
Among other priority actions are the construction of a new dam on the Zambezi at Mepanda Ncua (about 70 kilometres downstream from the existing dam at Cahora Bassa), the gas-fired power station at Temane in Inhambane province, and hydroelectric use of the Lurio river in the north of the country.
SOURCE: AIM
