Açucareira da Maragra, in the Manhiça district of Maputo province, revealed today that more than half of its 180 permanent workers could be made redundant in the next few days.

The managing director of Açucareira da Maragra told Rádio Moçambique that this was due to the restructuring of the workforce and the possible indefinite closure of the company, following the damage to equipment and loss of sugar cane due to the floods last February.

Filipe Raposo said that "the damage to the machinery and internal restructuring are currently being assessed". It is estimated that around 95% of sugar cane was lost.

In the meantime, the manager didn't give any figures for the repair, but said that the broken equipment at the Maragra sugar mill is valued at around 30 million dollars.