Mozambique: Matlombe says Ressano Garcia and Machipanda borders will have integrated systems

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Mozambique: Matlombe says Ressano Garcia and Machipanda borders will have integrated systems

4:28 CAT | 21 Feb 2025

File photo: O País

The Ressano Garcia and Machipanda borders will have integrated systems, commonly known as a “single border”, with the aim of simplifying border control procedures and speeding up the clearance of goods. The guarantee was given on Wednesday in the city of Beira, Sofala province, by Minister of Transport and Logistics, João Matlombe.

During a meeting with Sofala businesspeople, Minister Matlombe pledged that long truck queues because of slow goods clearance at the Ressano Garcia and Machipanda border crossings would soon no longer be a concern.

The integrated system is intended to facilitate the movement of people and goods and stimulate trade between Mozambique and the two neighbouring countries – South Africa and Zimbabwe.

“We are already making progress (…) in principle, we will complete the integration by around April or May, we are already closing the deal. And we are also now talking to our colleagues from Zimbabwe, as we have the solution, which is to help them understand that what can be done now is to integrate systems and not build buildings. That is our logic,” Matlombe said.

The government said that the concern, at this moment, was not the construction of majestic buildings on the borders, because “that cost [of the buildings], when the private sector invests, will be passed on to you, that is an investment. (…) So, we need to think carefully, because when a private sector gets involved within the structure that we have, it has to get money from somewhere and it gets it from the truck drivers, but what we want is the integration of systems,” he explained.

At the same meeting, the businesspeople expressed their concern about the monopoly that they called the “logistics fence”. “A Mozambican company, as I have already said, does not open a logistics company in South Africa. We do not open one, but they do here. (…) We have to reach this stage of defending our economy, by defining the minimum limit for what we call foreign investment,” complained one of the businessmen who took part in the meeting.

The minister guaranteed that the government would protect small national companies so that they could grow, not allowing competition with foreigners in investments through the state budget.

Source: O País