- Last May 17 the Council of Ministers approved the request for allocation of 12,000 hectares of land located in Palma in favor of the Centro de Promoção de Desenvolvimento Económico de Cabo Delgado (CPD), an unknown public entity created in May 2021 and whose attributions and competences are confused with the mandate of the Agência de Desenvolvimento Integrado do Norte (ADIN).
- The approval of the provisional DUAT in favor of the CPD was not preceded by a public consultation with the affected communities, as required by the land legislation. This public consultation could not take place because of the conflict that forced the people of Palma to leave their areas of origin. In other words, the government took advantage of the flight of the communities affected by violent extremism to expropriate their land.
- lFour months after receiving 12,000 hectares of land, the CPD of Cabo Delgado remains a totally unknown institution in the province, including by some senior officials of the Provincial Executive Council and the Secretary of State. CDD has learned that the CPD of Cabo Delgado is only down to its executive director. And nobody else
I t was during the 16th ordinary session on May 17th that the Council of Ministers approved the Resolution that provisionally authorizes the request for the Right of Use and Utilization of Land (DUAT) formulated by the Centro de Promoção de Desenvolvimento Económico de Cabo Delgado regarding an area of 12,000 hectares, located in the District of Palma, Cabo Delgado Province. The Council of Ministers’ statement did not specify the purposes for which the area allocated in a conflict context to a hitherto unknown entity was intended.
CDD has consulted the Bulletin of the Republic (III Series, No. 145, of July 29, 2021) and found that the Centro de Promoção de Desenvolvimento Económico (CPD) is a public entity created in May 2021, with a focus on the “promotion and coordination of actions of a multiform character oriented towards the promotion of the socio-economic development of Cabo Delgado.” It is a non-profit organization and also functions as a “consulting body of expertise in economic, social, and development issues.