Mozambique: Quelimane invests $150,000 in youth-led climate action projects
Mozambique: Quelimane tops Africa’s bicycle-friendly cities ranking
3:24 CAT | 24 Nov 2025
Screengrab:Conselho Autárquico de Quelimane
An international assessment has placed the Mozambican municipality of Quelimane at the top of Africa’s most bicycle-friendly cities. The local mayor, Manuel de Araújo, described the achievement as the fulfilment of a “dream”, noting that the municipality now aims to reach ten kilometres of cycle lanes.
“This has always been our dream. We were already the capital of so-called active mobility, or bicycle use, in Mozambique, and several years ago we set ourselves the goal of becoming the capital of Africa. So this announcement is, for us, the realisation and materialisation of that dream,” Manuel de Araújo told Lusa today.
The distinction was awarded to Quelimane, the municipality at the capital of Zambézia province in central Mozambique, by the Copenhagenize Index 2025 – EIT Urban Mobility Edition. The organisation, part of the European Union, evaluates and ranks the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world and, in this edition, assessed 100 cities from 44 countries, including African countries.
Quelimane ranks first among Africa’s bicycle-friendly cities – and 83rd globally.
In the African ranking, Quelimane is followed by Kisumu (Kenya), Addis Ababa (Ethipia), Nairobi (Kenya( and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).
Mayor Araújo, who has headed Quelimane since 2012, said the milestone is the result of local efforts and policies, as well as investments made to promote and ensure greater safety “for those who prefer to use … so-called active mobility”.
The municipality also took on the title of the first African City of Sport in January last year, when Mayor Manuel de Araújo was already envisioning the title of “bicycle capital” of the African continent, promising the construction of more cycle lanes.
He recalled that the first three kilometres of cycle lane were built around four years ago, with an investment of €23,000 from Portugal’s Environment Fund. Due to the “very positive” implementation of the project, the municipality received an additional €23,000, he explained.
“Therefore, we achieved these three kilometres of cycle lane, and from that point we submitted a proposal for an urban mobility plan to an institution. We applied to an organisation called Bloomberg Philanthropies,” he said, adding that Quelimane secured US$400,000 (€347,200) in financial support from the organisation founded by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg for urban redevelopment.
With this funding, he noted, work is now under way to build a further five kilometres of cycle lanes, raising the total to eight. “We expect to reach eight kilometres by February, and by the end of next year we hope to secure more resources to reach our target of ten kilometres,” he added.
He also pointed out that Quelimane’s leadership position in Africa gives the municipality “greater visibility”, which, he stressed, will open more doors and make it possible to include the cycle-lane circuit in the municipality’s tourism promotion package.
“Therefore, this is exactly our vision: not only to work towards safety and better mobility for the residents of Quelimane, but also to see the cycle lane and active mobility as a tourist attraction,” he added.
Lisbon, Portugal, is also among the world’s top 100 cycle-friendly cities, ranking 66th, in a list led this year by Utrecht, the capital of the Netherlands, according to the recently released report.
On 7 December 2023, in Brussels, Manuel de Araújo received the title of African City of Sport 2024 for Quelimane, awarded by ACES Europe (the European Capitals and Cities of Sport Federation).
Source: Lusa
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