Government seeking funds for north-south highway

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Government seeking funds for north-south highway

8:29 CAT | 22 May 2018

DW (File photo)

The Mozambican government is seeking funding to rehabilitate the country’s main north-south highway (EN1), particularly the stretches that are most degraded.

Speaking at a rally on Monday in Chemba district, in the central province of Sofala, President Filipe Nyusi said he was concerned at the deterioration of ENI, particularly the stretch that runs from the Inchope crossroads, in Manica province, to Caia, on the south bank of the Zambezi.

There has been a shocking decline in the state of the road, which was fully rehabilitated in 2003. After that reconstruction, government members, answering questions in the country’s parliament, even boasted that the Inchope-Caia stretch was “like a race track”.

Now, however, the deterioration is such that this stretch of EN1 needs to be repaved again, which will require more resources than the state budget can currently afford.

Recognising the negative impact this has on the country’s economy, Nyusi said that, while resources are not available for the full rehabilitation of the road, phased interventions must be made at the most critical points to improve the movement of traffic.

Driving along the 300 kilometres from Inchope to Caia is a grim experience. Potholes of all sizes lie in wait for the unwary motorist, and it can take almost a day for a heavy truck to negotiate this distance. When the road was in good condition, it would take perhaps three hours.

Yet this is a key part of Mozambique’s transport backbone. Goods travelling between the north and south of the country have little alternative but to use it.

“This stretch is very difficult”, Nyusi admitted. “We are mobilising resources, to see if we can advance by sections, so that we can improve the movement of traffic along EN1”.

There is a direct road from Caia to Beira, but it too is in very poor condition. Along the southern bank of the Zambezi, There is a road from Caia to Sena and on to Chemba. It too is in need of major repair.

“We are looking for resources to tackle this road”, Nyusi told the crowd. “Meanwhile, we shall undertake maintenance to make the road passable”.

There was good news for one Sofala road, running from Tica, on the Beira-Zimbabwe highway, to the district of Buzi. Preparatory work has been successfully concluded, and Nyusi believed that by August at the latest work on rebuilding the Tica-Buzi road would start.

Source: AIM