Mozambique: Port of Maputo gives Pessene truck park a positive first-year assessment – Carta

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Mozambique: Port of Maputo gives Pessene truck park a positive first-year assessment – Carta

4:08 CAT | 02 Dec 2024

File photo: Carta de Moçambique

The Pessene Truck Traffic Management Park on the N4 in Moamba, Maputo province, completed one year of operations in November.

Since its opening, the park has received 346,365 trucks, an average of 948 per day.

In statements to ‘Carta de Moçambique’, the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC), concessionaire of the Port of Maputo, made a positive assessment of its first year of operations.

The Pessene park was created with the aim of mitigating congestion on the EN4, providing temporary parking, and adequately managing traffic bound for the Port of Maputo. The infrastructure was also designed to increase port efficiency by initiating processing even before trucks arrive at the port, thus avoiding queues at the entrance.

The park also provides better conditions for truck drivers, with rest rooms and a cafeteria.

A year on, the Maputo Port Development Society (MPDC) states that the impacts of the park are notable.

The company highlighted the reduction in congestion on the N4 combined with a considerable increase in the volume of trucks received at the port – by 24% compared to before the opening of the park. It also boasts of increased port efficiency, with trucks avoiding queues upon arrival, and increased traffic safety on the N4.

MPDC’s commitment to Pessene, which began in coordination with the Maputo Provincial Government and the Ministry of Transport and Communications, goes far beyond the park itself.

“In addition to creating jobs (73 jobs) and generating small businesses by securing trucks in that area, MPDC is already working on the construction project of a secondary school in the Pessene area. Furthermore, we will begin the rehabilitation of the Pessene Health Centre in the third quarter of 2025, to better serve the community,” the company has announced.

Before the construction of the park, traveling along the N4 was difficult for private motorists, public transport passengers and cargo transporters, especially in the morning and afternoon. Users were forced to endure severe congestion, and as a result were often late at their destinations.

This scenario generated indignation among users, from citizens to government officials who live in the city of Matola. The solution was announced on March 6, 2023, by the Minister of Transport and Communications, Mateus Magala, together with the Governor of the Province of Maputo, Júlio Parruque, managers of the Port of Maputo and the Mozambique Ports and Railways (CFM).

This was to ban the circulation of mineral ore trucks from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. in the morning and from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the afternoon, a drastic measure however supported by the construction of a 20-hectare park with capacity for 250 vehicles, where trucks could wait during those periods.

By Evaristo Chilingue

Source: Carta de Moçambique