Mozambique: Fiscal Benefits for Megaprojects Being Phased Out
Maputo — The fiscal benefits for megaprojects, regarded by many
as excessive, are reaching their end, according to Mozambique's
Minister of Planning and Development, Aiuba Cuereneia.  It was
the early megaprojects, such as the Mozal aluminium smlter on
the outskirts of Maputo, or the natural gas treatment plant and
pipeline operated by the South African petro-chemical giant
Sasol, which received the most generous tax breaks.  At the time
it was argued that Mozambique needed to attract the mega-
projects in order to show that it was open to foreign
investment. And without the generous fiscal benefits, investors
might not have put their money into such an ambitious project as
Mozal.  But speaking to reporters on Tuesday, after a meeting of
the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), Cuereneia pointed out that
these tax benefits were limited in time to ten years, and that
since 2007 there has been a new law in force "which
significantly reduces the benefits f