More than 6,000 vehicles crossed the Maputo-Katembe bridge in 24 hours

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More than 6,000 vehicles crossed the Maputo-Katembe bridge in 24 hours

1:06 CAT | 14 Nov 2018

Photo: O País

Figures presented by Maputo Sul indicate that 6,000 vehicles crossed the new Maputo-Katembe bridge in the 24 hours between Sunday and Monday afternoons, but say it is still too early to establish the average number of vehicles that will use the infrastructure.

The bridge management company says that many users may have crossed the bridge simply out of curiosity, causing an avalanche of people in the first days.

“In the case of Class 1 vehicles – the ones that make up the largest number – we registered more than 6,000 from 3:00 p.m. on Sunday to 3:00 p.m. on Monday,” chairman Silva Magaia said. “It may be a valuable indication, but it’s still early, so we want to monitor traffic this week to get an actual notion of the trend,” he added.

Bur there are no roses without thorns, and the company says it was unhappy with some of the bridge users’ behaviour. “We saw people known to the public behaving reprehensibly, and parents putting children on the bridge barriers to take pictures, in spite of the dangers. We said that it was forbidden to stop on the bridge, but many users ignored this basic rule,” he said.

Magaia said that Maputo Sul was working with the police to prevent such behaviour and ultimately arrest the violators. “We are studying a plan of action. It is time to educate people. If we are unable to educate ourselves with dialogue, we will have to use other ways of reprimanding people, if necessary arresting those who break the rules,” he said.

Maputo Sul says that it is in the final stages of installing surveillance cameras on the bridge to identify transgressors.

By Raúl Massingue

Source: O País