Africa's biggest ethanol production project, valued at $510 million dollars, will be developed in Mozambique from next year, Agriculture Minister Erasmo Muhate has said.
"Under the project, among other things, more than 30,000 hectares of sugar cane will be produced as well as a factory for the production of ethanol from the sugar cane," said the minister, who did not give details of the quantity of ethanol to be produced annually.
"The project will be developed by the Central African Mining and Exploration Company (CAMEC)", a mining group operating in Mozambique since 2003, with offices in South Africa, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Muhate said. Most of the ethanol would be exported to Europe and the exports are expected to generate up to $40 million, he added.
Mozambique already has a factory producing ethanol, inaugurated in August with a capacity of 80,000 litres per day.
The new project has attracted criticisms from the local media, which said government should have rather encouraged food production to feed the country's 17 million population.
Africasia
