Government approves works of Giriyondo

2005/09/17

Seven ministers of Mozambique, namely of the Finances, Public Works and House, Interior, Tourism, Environment affairs and the vice ministers of the Foreign affairs and of the Agriculture, visited the National Park of Limpopo on Friday August 19th, 2005, with the purpose of verifying the state of the works olden at the frontier position of Giriyondo and its needs in terms of equipment and human resources, in relation to the final aspects and preparations for its inauguration, foreseen for the next October, in a ceremony to be testified by his Excellencies president Armando Guebuza, Thabo Mbeki and Robert Mugabe, of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe, respectively.

The Minister of Tourism, Fernando Sumbana, has referred that the visit's main objective of the Ministers’ team to the National Park of Limpopo, particularly to the border of Giriyondo was to evaluate the degree of implementation of the projects, specifically in what it respects to the construction of the border of Giriyondo.

Fernando Sumbana has emphasized that the composition of the Ministers’ team, demonstrates the Government's concern in relation to the National Park of Limpopo: "The Minister of the Finances cares for the subjects of the budget and financial resources and it tries to stimulate what will be the incomes to be collect by the country in several enterprises as the Park.

The Minister of the Public Works and housing has the responsibility of supervising the work in technical terms. In the concrete case for this border’s work, we had a participation and direct orientation of this Ministry. The Ministry of Interior is responsible for the people's movement from one country to another, the safety's subject and public order. The participation of the Ministry of the Environment affairs is due to the relationship between tourism and environment, which is vital if we want to develop a responsible and sustainable tourism. The presence of the vice-minister of the Foreign affairs is due the relationship between our countries involved in Project. The presence of the vice-minister of the Agriculture is due to the fact that many activities of this Park have a narrow relationship with that Ministry.

From the results of this visit, is relevant the recommendation for the creation of conditions for more spaces for our workers’ reception while working at this area. There will be a Migration office, Customs, Police Keeps Border and the Administration of the Park to maintain its communication work with the tourists.

The lodging availability won't be enough for all these entities. The ministers gave instructions to the Administration of the Park to try to combine the investments that are being done in Massingir and the investments that they can be done in the border of Giriyondo, in the sense of evaluating the possibility to do one more or two houses, in a short term.

Deeply, according to the Minister of the Tourism, concluded that there are positive progresses in the Park, being noticed an integrated development of the actions in course:
It has been accomplished everything that is foreseen in the appropriate moments. In the concrete case of the border of Giriyondo there was some delay in the beginning of the works for financial subjects, related to the contest and liberation of the financial means. But the calendar is already relined.

The ministers have appreciated the form as the administration of the Park has happening, and they congratulated by the integrated work, among the several specialties, namely the sanity, the communities' attendance, identification of the places for the communities' transfer and the permanent communication between the several parts to avoid the bad perception of what has been intended to do with this tourist enterprise.

Minister Sumbana has referred that: “We felt that there is a perfect work, and a great involvement of the Government of the province. In this visit we had the participation of the own Governor of the province of Gaza, Djalma Lourenço, who is the main leader of the territory of the Park, and in the first hand, who makes the attendance of everything that concerns with the population’s new space fixing once removed from one part of the interior of the Park, and of all other aspects of the public and political administration of that area.

The cortege of Ministers still visited the tourist camp of Machampane, also in the final phase of its construction. It is a luxury tents staying, with all of the commodities, including house of conventional bath and hot water, with capacity for two beds each.

In the group of tourist infrastructures and of the Administration of PNL, prominence equally for the camp of Massingir, that contemplates two enclosed spaces close to the lagoon, the camps of Machamba and of Duruname, and still the compounds administrative and residential of the Park.

There is, therefore, a solid base for the outburst of the activities of tourism in PNL. In fact, a trip that moved about 200 tourists during four days in the first fortnight of August, 2005, had the privilege of waking up thousands of established people inside the Park for the new reality that is practically thrown, in this conservation area, integrated in the regional project of Great Limpopo's Park Transfrontier.