Africa-Press – Mozambique. Approximately ten million dollars is the total loss incurred by Mozambique Ports and Railways (CFM), primarily due to untransported goods resulting from insecurity and damage to infrastructure during post-election protests.
This preliminary assessment was recently shared with the media by CFM’s Chairman, Agostinho Langa Jr., following a visit by the Head of State to the Ressano Garcia railway line. President Filipe Nyusi sought to assess the damage caused by the protesters and evaluate the operational status of the Maputo Corridor, a crucial supply route for the southern region of the country and beyond.
On the occasion, Langa highlighted that protesters had vandalised the Tenga and Matola-Gare stations in Maputo Province, as well as the Cateme station on the Sena line. Additionally, several company vehicles were seized and set on fire, severely disrupting normal operations.
He specified that the company was forced to suspend passenger trains to ensure public safety, a situation that has affected thousands of users, given that CFM offers fares significantly below market rates as part of its social responsibility efforts.
“In fact, I recently received several calls from residents in Tete Province who no longer have train services and are being forced to use public passenger transport, which costs five times more than the train ticket,” said Agostinho Langa Jr. during his interaction with the press.
He noted that passenger train services have resumed in the southern region despite the destruction of infrastructure at Tenga and Matola-Gare stations. Meanwhile, operations on the Sena railway line are still under assessment for appropriate decision-making.
Langa Jr. indicated that if the protests stopped, the company would need just two days to restore normal train operations on the Sena line, though some of the necessary equipment would need to be imported from neighbouring South Africa.
He acknowledged that the vandalism is also jeopardising some of the company’s social responsibility projects, such as providing water to residents in Matola-Gare.
In the short term, the company requires at least six million dollars to repair the damage to railway infrastructure and normalise operations on the affected lines.
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