Attorney general bans housing project in mangrove area

The Mozambican Attorney General’s Office (PGR) has banned the construction of a housing project on top of a mangrove area in the Costa do Sol neighbourhood, in Maputo city, according to the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), an anti-corruption watchdog body.

According to a release from CIP, the PGR ordered Maputo Municipal Council to cancel a decision of June last year “which served as the basis for allocation of the construction of a housing project in the mangrove area of Costa do Sol, given that it is devoid of legal grounds and violates the principles of legality and justification of administrative acts”.

The PGR’s decision was communicated to CIP last Monday, after CIP had denounced the existence of a project to build a luxury condominium, on the Costa do Sol mangroves. Shockingly, despite the environmentally sensitive nature of mangrove forest, the project had been authorized by the Municipal Council and by the Ministry of Land and Environment.

The PGR also ordered the Municipal Council to revoke the Land Use Title (DUAT) granted to Top Logística, SA, the company that was about to build the luxury condominium of 28 villas.

The attribution of a DUAT in ecologically sensitive areas is a violation, both of environmental legislation, and of the Maputo City PPU [Partial Urbanization Plan of the coastal area], said the PGR. It stressed that “building houses in areas of environmental protection is prohibited”.

According to the PGR, mangroves are qualified as sensitive ecosystem areas, owned by the State, which has the responsibility to ensure the adoption of measures for their protection.

(AIM)