Manuel de Araújo in tension with EDM: Quelimane forced to buy CREDELEC for traffic lights

Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) cut off the electricity supply to the traffic lights in Quelimane's city centre, allegedly because the municipality has not made payments to the company.

The disruption in the electricity supply, according to TORRE.News, dates back to last April and resulted from a unilateral decision by EDM without prior notice to the Municipality of Quelimane.

There are reports of recurring accidents resulting in injuries, ranging from minor to severe, and other significant damages due to the traffic light outage.

Regarding this issue, TORRE.News attempted to contact Electricidade de Moçambique, but as of the publication of this report, the company had not yet commented on the matter.

However, the mayor of Quelimane, in an exclusive interview with TORRE.News, stated that the issue is longstanding and has been communicated to the Prime Minister, Adriano Maleiane, the Minister of State Administration and Public Function, Ana Coane, and the Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance, Carla Louveira, but no response has been received so far.

“We were surprised by EDM, which, without consulting us, turned off the traffic lights and installed the CREDELEC system. This is very strange to us,” he said.

Although not confirming whether the municipality has a debt with EDM, Manuel de Araújo mentioned that a complaint has been submitted to the company's administration.

Meanwhile, according to the mayor, the city continues with the traffic lights turned off. "We will remain as we are because we cannot pay for electricity to operate the traffic lights. This doesn't make sense."

Despite this, Araújo acknowledges that the situation endangers the movement of people and goods within the city and assumes that accidents, unfortunately, will continue to occur if EDM does not restore the situation.

He added that, in his view, the cost of traffic lights in local municipalities should be incorporated into public lighting, which is supported by the company itself, as it is considered a public service.

Additionally, Manuel de Araújo complains about the debts that EDM owes to the municipality regarding the collection of garbage tax, which, according to him, the company has not been transferring for a long time.

It is worth noting that, concerning the dispute over public lighting costs, Decree 42/2005 of November 22 establishes that the company must build, operate, and maintain public lighting systems as requested by the State body, defining the corresponding commercial conditions, which means that the cost of public lighting should be subsidized by the requester.

This legal provision also covers the cost of energy consumed by traffic lights in municipalities, which should be subsidized by the municipalities.

In this case, out of the 65 local municipalities in the country, only 20 have traffic lights, and of this number, only 15 fulfill their commitments with EDM, four still face challenges in paying the subsidy, and one, the Municipality of Chiúre, operates its traffic light system using solar panels.