The struggle for access to essential infrastructures in self-produced pericentral neighborhoods of Maputo

ABSTRACT

The history of the city of Maputo was shaped by several transformations reflected in the processes leading to its urban fabric. It is possible to identify the contextual periods that determined these processes and the different events that molded the consolidation of this dualized city, with special focus on the access to essential infrastructures (roads, water, sanitation and electricity). This article follows this evolution from the self-produced pericentral neighborhoods, by analyzing the processes, practices and policies adopted in the urban environment and the inequalities in the access to infrastructures remaining until the present day. My research, based on interviewing the managing entities and on surveying inhabitants of some of these neighborhoods, aims to expose the problems related to infrastructural subsystems and to bring forward the different and alternative initiatives and mechanisms adopted by all parts concerned in overcoming these difficulties.

KEYWORDS:

• Maputo
• self-produced pericentral neighborhoods
• access to essential infrastructures
• different initiatives

Acknowledgments

This article was prepared in the framework of the author’s ongoing doctoral thesis, funded by Camões, Institute for Cooperation and Language, IP in the form of a PhD scholarship. It was also the result of participation in two research projects: (1) Coast to Coast - Late Portuguese Infrastructural Development in Continental África (Angola and Mozambique): Critical and Historical Analysis and Postcolonial Assessment, coordinated by Ana Vaz Milheiros and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P.; and (2) Africa Habitat project - from the sustainability of the habitat to the quality of the inhabit in the urban margins of Luanda e Maputo (Ref. 333121392), coordinated by FAUL by Isabel Raposo and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. and the Aga Khan Development Network (“Knowledge for Development Initiative” Program).

To Sílvia Jorge, Vanessa Melo, Ana Fernandes and Sílvia Viegas for their assistance and advice., and to Sandra and Guca for their support with the translations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Article developed in the framework of the doctoral thesis being concluded and in the participation of two research projects: (1) Coast to Coast – Late Portuguese Infrastructural Development in Continental África (Angola and Mozambique): Critical and Historical Analysis and Postcolonial Assessment’, coordinated by Ana Vaz Milheiros and funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal; and (2) Africa Habitat project, coordinated by Isabel Raposo, proposed by the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, including as partner the Kaya Clínica Project of the Eduardo Mondlane University of Mozambique and funded by the Program FCT – Aga Khan (Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Portugal and by the Aga Khan Development Network).

2. Used as case studies in the author’s doctoral thesis.

3. As part of the author’s doctoral thesis, 176 residents were inquired about different urban, infrastructural and housing subjects.

4. This road was used by the colonists as a way to venture further inland.

5. Replacing Lidemburgo road, this railway would provide the South-African nation a more efficient way to import and export goods via Lourenço Marques’ sea port.

6. Particularly after 1912, year in which new official plans, known as Código de Posturas seek to compile documentation regarding housing construction and licensing: it is the first time the suburban areas are mentioned in official projects (Morais, 2001, p. 107).

7. For instance, the 1952’s Plano Aguiar (Aguiar Plan) which aimed to expand the city by means of assorting areas to private investors and to push the natives’ area further away from the consolidated urban core. Due to diverse technical and administrative limitations (Morais, 2001) and utopic intentions (see Vanin, 2013, p. 47), this plan was not fully implemented.

8. According to Morais (2001, p. 175) the Regulatory Plan of the Occupation on the Terrain in the Outskirts of Lourenço Marques was put forward in a time when the role of the city as a focus point for population started to be questioned, and a balance between the potential development of the region and the consequent quick expansion was preferred.

9. After the ceasefire in the independence war, the Lusaka Agreements were signed in September 1974 between the FRELIMO – Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Mozambique Liberation Front) and the Portuguese State. Mozambique’s right to Independence and the steps necessary toward its proclamation in the 25th of June 1975 were the outcome of those agreements.

10. The Soviet Union supported the country in the political-military field, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. However, this support began to decline with the culmination of the Cold War as the USSR was struggling economically to impose itself as a world power. The support finally ceased at the end of the Cold War with the disintegration of the USSR (Mabucanhane, 2017).

11. The Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (Mozambican National Resistance), initially founded as RNM but eventually known as RENAMO was a political organization created in 1975, to oppose the ruling party – FRELIMO. After 16 years of civil war between them, peace was signed on the 4th of October 1992, converting RENAMO in a right-wing political party. It is now the second most important political party in Mozambique.

12. By gradually moving from using perishable building materials such as reed huts to more resistant ones (firstly wood and zinc, afterward concrete blocks and zinc sheets).

13. Created with backing from the World Bank and the United Nations Development Program.

14. This decentralization starts with the implementation of a multi-party system in 1990 and the first national democratic elections in 1993. The first local elections took place in 1998, in which the councils gained juridical, administrative and financial autonomy and power.

15. The Lei de Terras – Decreto-lei nr. 19/1997 (Law of Lands – Bill no. 19/1997) (República de Moçambique, 1997) presents a compromise between formal and traditional laws, by stating that while the land remains state property, individuals or the local communities may acquire land under the Right of Occupation and Use of the Land (DUAT– Direito ao Uso e Aproveitamento da Terra), if doing so for a period of at least ten years. Unfortunately, in certain cases this makes possible the illegal commercialization of the land.

16. he censuses are to be done once per decade however, due to the civil war, there were none between 1980 and 1997.

17. The ProMaputo was approved in 2007 and is a project financed by the Maputo City Council, the central government and the World Bank. It is split in two phases: the first aims to increase the municipality’s capability in developing, managing and providing services to its residents; the second seeks to strengthen its long-term institutional and financial capability and prioritize needed investments for the municipality’s development.

18. The Via da Circular consists in six sections with a total of around 75 km. The works started in 2012 and the first five sections were concluded by the end of 2015, while the six is still unfinished. The Maputo-KaTembe bridge started to be built in 2014 and was opened in November 2018.

19. Interview with Isabel Raposo on the 1st of August 2019.

20. From the 2007 Census data, the population forecast for 2014 estimated that Chamanculo C had 25,320 inhabitants, Maxaquene A had 24,270 inhabitants and Polana Caniço A had 53,598 inhabitants. It was not possible to identify the population of each of these neighborhoods in the new 2017 census, but it can be seen from Table 1 that the population decreased in the pericentral neighborhoods and increased in the more peripheral ones.

21. Allotments with non-legalized landholding, with no officially recognized boundaries and not suitable to be claimed under the Right of Occupation and Use of the Land by the Municipality;

22. Such as Urbanization Directing Plans, Municipal Development Programmes, Partial Urbanization Plans, amongst other occasional and short-term plans.

23. A more thorough explanation of the duties and responsibilities of these Administrative Structures can be found in the Regulation of the Organization and Operation of the Administrative Structures of Municipal Districts published in the Journal of the Republic number 3, III series, 23 January 2012 (República de Moçambique, 2012).

24. With support of Maputo City Council and financing by the Embassy of Spain, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation amongst other solidarity institutions; and partnerships with other NGOs, like WSUP, IAJ and SESAL.

25. Interview with Africa Habitat team on the 27th of July, 2019.

26. This framework consists in delegating the management and exploration rights of the state-managed water supply systems to private entities by means of concession, exploration or management contracts, with the aim of ensuring an efficient management of the public service (Macucule, 2016).

27. The Maputo City Council provides regulation for the building of septic tanks and latrines (see Weststrate et al., 2019, p. 4).

28. As an example, the 2000 floods in Mozambique were among those with the greatest impact in the southern region of the country. The floods destroyed numerous infrastructures and killed at least 700 people. It is estimated that around 4.5 million have been affected with hundreds of thousands displaced and others resettled (GFDRR, 2014).

29. The value in May of 2020 was around 2000 Mtn (approximately 30 USD) and 4000 Mtn (circa 60 USD) in the urban center. 1 USD = 67,3 Mtn).

30. The surveyed residents were receptive of this change, mainly because it means they can control their spending accordingly to their financial capacity.

31. The regional water departments under the supervision of the DNA and the municipal authorities are responsible for monitoring the independent water suppliers, which is often a demanding task in the more distant neighborhoods due to the clandestine nature of these operations.

32. The Bill 51/2015 signed in the 31st of December (República de Moçambique,2015) approves the Licensing Regulation for potable water supplying services by private suppliers, opening the doors for participation of the private sector.

33. Most of the information about WSUP and WaterAid was extracted from the organizations’ websites. For more information about their work in Maputo and Mozambique visit: (1) https://www.wsup.com/where-we-work/mozambique/greater-maputo; and (2) https://www.wateraid.org/mz.

34. The value in May of 2020 was around 875 Mtn (approximately 13 USD) of the standard fee of 3500 Mtn (approximately 52 USD). 1 USD = 67,3 Mtn.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) under the “Knowledge for Development Initiative„ Program. [IC&DT/PALOP/FCT-AKDN/333121392/2018].

Notes on contributors

Jéssica Lage

Jéssica Canotilho Lage is a Mozambican architect and urban planner, graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Physical Planning at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo. Has a postgraduate degree in ‘Housing project and ways of inhabiting’ from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto, where she is taking her PhD in Architecture with the thesis entitled ‘The formalities of the “informal”: from self-production to self-construction in Maputo’s pericentral neighborhoods’. Has participated in international seminars and conferences, as well as published chapters and scientific articles in journals and publishers, especially on the issues of community technical assistance and basic housing field in Maputo’s self-produced neighborhoods.