OWN CORRESPONDENT, Mozambique | Sunday
THE Mozambican government has granted a concession to a South African firm to promote conservation and tourism in a wetlands and coastal region, including part of the ocean, the company involved said on Sunday.
Christine Donaldson, representative for the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary development, said the 30_000-hectare sanctuary lay within the southern area of the Bazaruto Archipelago World Heritage Site, in Mozambique’s Imhambane province.
In what Donaldson described as a world first, the concession extends into the ocean, up to the 20-metre depth line.
“The developers will be responsible for nurturing, protecting and patrolling the marine life and game,” she said.
For this reason they were granted a concession to the entire area, which will be protected as a marine and coastal game reserve extending into the Pacific Ocean.
Donaldson said it includes wetlands, the Sao Sebastio Peninsula, which juts out from the coast and two islands, Lenene and Chilonzwini.
She said it was the largest private coastal concession ever to be awarded by the Mozambican government.
About R75m is to be invested over five years in the project, which will have 50 housing sites along the coastline.
Plans call for a donor-funded game project to see the reintroduction of rhino, elephant, buffalo and leopard to the sanctuary.
Local people, under the supervision of a wildlife trust, will own the game and reap all benefits from the game farming operation.
The Mozambican Minster of Tourism, Fernando Sumbana, has stated the structured participation of Mozambicans in the project will serve as a model for future developments.
Due to its geographic position the area offers a unique combination of fragile eco-systems, including shallow and deep, sea and fresh water systems.
The peninsula is one of the last breeding grounds of the rare sea-mammal, the dugong. – AFP