The Paris-based Aga-Khan Network is considering reviving the giant Mozambican textile company Texlom, in the southern city of Matola.
Texlom, which once employed 3,000 workers, has been paralysed for the past four years, and was declared bankrupt in 2001.
A Mozambican government source told AIM that an Aga-Khan mission, headed by Nazim Ahmad, visited Maputo in October to contact the Mozambican authorities and study the possibility of rehabilitating the factory. Accompanied by Trade and Industry Minister Carlos Morgado, the delegation visited the factory, where it held a meeting with officials from various sectors of the Mozambican economy, including the Investment Promotion Centre (CPI), the Mozambique Cotton Institute (IAM), the Customs Services, and the factory's management commission.
During that meeting, the visiting delegation expressed an interest in investing in the rehabilitation of the factory. A special unit is to be created to study the situation before the Aga-Khan Network takes a final decision on the matter.
The government source said that, under this arrangement, Texlom would be given the status and tax benefits of an Industrial Free Zone, as an incentive to the investors.
The factory would operate round the clock, manufacturing many kinds of textile products, mostly for export.