Albano Carige, Challenges to “reviving the shine of the city of lime and dust”

Paulo Vilanculo"

On August 20th, the city of Beira celebrated another anniversary of its elevation to city status. A date that should serve only as a celebration and a source of pride, but which inevitably opens space for reflection. Between promises and omissions, Beira is a city of paradoxes: a place where nature shines, where the future is celebrated on paved roads, but the "glass houses" of the past turn to dust, crumbling into ruins. The city of Beira is a land of contrasts. On the one hand, it boasts rare natural beauty, with its imposing Indian coastline and green spaces that make it unique in Mozambique; on the other, it displays open wounds in the form of crumbling buildings, a legacy of the defunct State Real Estate Administration, which remain without clear oversight, having become urban skeletons. To what extent is the municipal administration prepared to confront the ghosts of the past without losing sight of the promises of the future?

The city of Beira, Mozambique's second-largest city, lives between two worlds. On one side, it boasts an enviable postcard: the Indian Ocean breeze from its extensive ocean coastline, which cools the city and, on sunny days, becomes an invitation to tourism; the green park breathes the future, acting as a natural lung, a kind of promise of a future where projects finally move from paper to concrete. On the other, a landscape bearing the heavy, almost apocalyptic shadow of ruins, crumbling buildings, and urban scars that resist time, abandonment, and the lack of strategic political vision post-independence. This coexists with the dissolution of the State Real Estate Administration (APIE), which left public buildings, many of them historic, orphaned, which today lie in ruins throughout Beira.

Just look away from the sea lighthouse and you'll come across the large "cement monsters" of the Estoril motel, the Dom Carlos Hotel, and the Grande Hotel, just to name a few. Navigating the city's main avenues, you'll witness the unpleasant state of filth in the dilapidated buildings, such as the Tâmega, Imporium, Cinema Nacional, and Olimpia buildings, among others, which seem to stage a macabre drama from the past. These are the famous glass houses, once a symbol of modernity, now crumbling into the dust of urban decay due to lack of maintenance. These glass houses, turned to dust, remind us of the fragility of urban memory and the absence of consistent rehabilitation policies. Their walls, once mirrors of a once-proud city, are now pale and corroded, exposed to the salty sea, the elements, and government neglect.

In the older "concrete monsters" neighborhoods, the death of buildings that once symbolized prosperity and modernity, now reduced to skeletons, is multiplying. The buildings are left at the mercy of time, sea spray, and speculation, while desperate residents transform ruins into makeshift housing, putting their lives at risk. It is in this contradiction that Beira emerges, between the green of the future and the gray of abandonment, the brightness of the coast and the mold of corroded walls. The result is a city that coexists with a legacy that resembles an open-air architectural cemetery.

Currently, the only thing "managing" them is the relentless force of abandonment. With the State absent, the buildings crumble on their own, without even the right to a death certificate. In practice, management seems to have been diluted by promises of never-fulfilled privatization, murky interests, and the old excuse of "lack of funds." What we see is a kind of "inheritance without an heir," where no one truly assumes the management, maintenance, or even the responsibility for disposing of the dilapidated properties. The irony is that, while a modern, safe, and organized city is being designed, many residents still live inside crumbling buildings, defying gravity and political indifference daily.

The mayor, with his image of dynamism and visible energy, tries to show that the city isn't stuck in time. It's true that the mayor has sought to win over the city with visible projects, such as paving small alleys in the neighborhoods, signaling an effort to bring the population on the outskirts closer to the city's economic heart. These initiatives offer signs of hope, revealing that Beira can be much more than a strategic transit point to the country's center. The paving works, though timid, sound like a sign of hope: after all, Beira may not be condemned to the eternal label of "forgotten city." It can, in fact, become a model city for sustainable urban development. But if it's possible to dream small, why not dream big? Isn't it time to move forward with a comprehensive urban regeneration project, beginning with the rehabilitation of dilapidated properties and restoring dignity to the city center?

After all, Beira needs not only passable streets, but a vision for the city. It's true that a sustainable city isn't built solely on paved roads. The next step would be a comprehensive urban redevelopment project, beginning with the rehabilitation of the dilapidated properties that currently blight the landscape. But if Beira truly wants to be the "city of the future" its residents deserve, the future cannot be built on rubble. This isn't an impossible dream: neighboring cities on the mainland have invested in redevelopment programs that combine architectural heritage with innovation. A financing program, whether through public-private partnerships or international cooperation funds, could restore dignity to the historic center and transform the ruins into useful, modern, and safe spaces.

If we dream of a landmark city in Beira, the Mayor needs to resolve the dilemma of the ruins, which are not just a source of wear and tear that contributes to their demise, but are also part of Beira's history. Letting time do the work of demolition instead of reconstruction or rehabilitation is, at the very least, an act of negligence and pragmatism. The city of Beira needs an integrated urban rehabilitation plan, public policies that combine historical conservation and modernization. Only then will it cease to be a city of stark contrasts and establish itself as what has the potential to be a true coastal jewel of Mozambique. The challenge is not only political and social, but above all urbanistic.

2025/12/3