American tycoon James Blanchard has died without seeing much progress being made on his dream project – a massive theme park in Mozambique. Mercedes Sayagues reports
James Ulysses Blanchard III, the controversial, paraplegic American tycoon, died of a heart attack in March. He was 54.
Staff at Blanchard Mozambique Enterprises (BME) say once his estate is settled, his widow will continue developing 90km of coastline from Maputo to KwaZulu-Natal, encompassing the Maputo Elephant Reserve.
Others may be eyeing the huge concession. Mozambican law stipulates time periods for investors to show results, or concessions can be revoked. Blanchard promised an investment of $800-million. Little has materialised.
The concession, awarded in 1996, was controversial. Through the right-wing Heritage Foundation, Blanchard had financially supported the Renamo rebels in Mozambique’s civil war that ended in 1992. Yet Blanchard obtained a 50-year renewable concession over 236 000ha – the size of Mauritius – from the Frelimo government.
It is believed in political circles that President Joachim Chissano negotiated the deal in exchange for Blanchard stopping support for Renamo.
The billionaire envisaged a Disneyworld-like resort with a steam train, marinas, floating casinos, underwater observatories and 300- room hotels. His first manager, John Perrot, who was later fired, spoke of importing lions, elephants and San people for the viewing pleasure of tourists.
Paradoxically, work at the elephant reserve picked up after Blanchard’s death. The turning point was the contract to manage the reserve signed last December between BME and Mozambique’s National Directorate for Forests and Wildlife. With this assurance, bits of money began trickling in. A week before his death, Blanchard transferred $60 000 to the reserve.
Zimbabwean-born Richard Fair was appointed to manage the reserve from April 1 and brings years of experience as a game warden in Botswana and South Africa. In 1994 he set up Nkomati Safaris in Mozambique.
Fair says BME has introduced 24 kudu and 14 waterbuck, supplied uniforms and radios for 43 scouts, refurbished their derelict lodgings, and set up regular anti-poaching patrols to control spotlight hunters who drive in at night from Maputo and Ponta de Ouro to shoot buck and wild pigs.
To protect peasants and crops from the reserve’s elephants, 24km of electrified fence has been erected – a sore point with local communities. Blanchard’s concession is larger than the old reserve boundary, and peasants complained the fence blocked their access to the Futi River. Moreover, the South African firm contracted to build it bulldozed the land without consultations. The firm has been dismissed.
A poor relationship with local communities still mars the project. Things could improve with Zulu-speaking Fair.
Since the concession was granted, the NGO Helvetas has been explaining Mozambique’s new land law to communities and mapping communal lands in conflict-prone areas.
Helvetas director Marcus Buzberger says the main problem is the lack of “a clear concept of how local people will benefit from the reserve. It is not enough to keep the elephants away.”
The biggest success, he says, is the district forum launched last April. It should meet every two months with all players – BME, district authorities, chiefs and community representatives – to discuss the project. “It is not quite yet a truly democratic process but it is encouraging.”
The biggest failure is that nothing concrete has materialised.
Fair says that since the contract was signed, South Africans and Australians have expressed interest in developing tented camps in the reserve.
“Investors were holding back to see if we were in total control,” he says.
In the original deal, the state and local communities entered the deal as partners in the concession with the land as their asset, valued at $3-million, or $5 for 0,4ha. All land belongs to the state in Mozambique.
In an earlier brochure, BME advertised 200 plots of 0,4ha each at $50 000 and 500 plots of 2ha each at $100 000.
“Our new chiefs give away our land cheaper than the old chiefs gave it to European settlers,” says Carlos Cardoso, editor of Metical.
Another failed deal where Mozambique gave lots of land to investors with little capital was the Mozagrius concession in Niassa province for the South African Chamber for Development of Agriculture in Africa.
BME is rumoured to be pressing for title deeds to the land. Beachfront property could then sold. If the law needs to be changed, Frelimo’s majority in Parliament could do it over Renamo’s objections.
Late last year, BME was shocked when the government dusted off a 1960s project to build a deep-sea port for oil and grain tankers in Ponta Dabela, the jewel of the reserve’s coast. This could have been done to convey a message: hurry up or pay up.
“This puts pressure on the company to perform,” says Fair.
Environmental activists in Maputo still doubt BME’s capacity to manage such a large area. “It lacks capital and a team of experts. How can they manage the reserve without a biologist?” asks Antonio Reina, regional director for the Endangered Wildlife Trust.