Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique will move forward with a project to rehabilitate a further 340 kilometres of the National 1 (N1) road, the country’s main highway, the government announced in parliament on Wednesday.
The data revealed by the Minister of Transport and Logistics, João Matlombe, when answering questions from MPs in parliament, indicate that the “conceptual project” envisages the rehabilitation of 70 kilometres (km) of the Inchope-Gorongosa section, in Sofala province, 176 km of Chimuara-Nicoadala, in Zambézia, and intervention in 94 km of the Metoro-Pemba section, in Cabo Delgado.
The N1 sections mentioned will be rehabilitated as part of the World Bank’s financing package of US$850 million (€797 million), with almost half of the amount to be invested in the first phase, which the Mozambican government announced yesterday “will be gradually disbursed by the financier as the works progress”.
The government also announced that a tender had already been launched to select a contractor for the rehabilitation of 84 kilometres of the Gorongosa-Caia stretch, in the centre of the country.
The government acknowledged the need to rehabilitate the entire N1, given its advanced state of degradation. “There is a need to ensure the rehabilitation and maintenance of around 2,620 km of the north-south link, as well as the main regional logistics corridors requiring an investment of US$3.5 billion,” said Minister João Matlombe.
On February 10, the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA), which brings together the Mozambican private sector, asked the government to rehabilitate the N1 as part of efforts to recover businesses after the post-election crisis.
At the end of a February meeting between the private sector and the government, the president of the CTA’s Communications and Services department, Paulo Oliveira, said that the confederation had presented a set of measures to “relieve some burdens, some taxes, and real proposals so that the (…) economy can develop, namely the requalification of National Highway Number 1, which is very important”.
“It is our backbone,” Oliveira declared at the time.
“We brought up other concerns, namely fuel taxes, and we also talked about the issue of tolls, of finding models that are more sustainable and comfortable for all users,” he added.
In March 2023, the Mozambican government announced the start of the first phase of the National Road 1 (N1) rehabilitation works by the end of that year, with first phase financing of around US$400 million (€375 million) approved by the World Bank in August.
The World Bank previously approved a total financing of US$850 million (€797 million), almost half of which will be applied in the first phase.
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