Maputo cuts spending 37% & stops bus rapid transit

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Maputo cuts spending 37% & stops bus rapid transit

6:24 CAT | 26 Aug 2016

Public Transport Diaries (File photo) / Two 'Chapas' [mini-buses] in a Maputo street

The economic crisis has forced Maputo to cut its budget for this year by 37%, from 6,306 mn meticais ($86 mn at current exchange rates) to 3,973 mn meticais ($54 mn). The main fall in revenue is in aid funding, with internal revenues down 11% and external resources down 73%. The revised budget was approved by the municipal assembly Tuesday (O Pais 24 Aug)

Meanwhile the proposed bus rapid transit system will not be built, revealed @Verdade (24 Aug). Work was supposed to start last month, and the system was to have been built by the Brazilian firm Odebrecht with a $330 mn Brazilian export credit. But such credits require government guarantees, which are not forthcoming after the revelations of $2.2 bn in secret debt. @Verdade points out that this loan would have been only 15% of the secret debt, and be much more useful.

Bus rapid transit is used in Johannesburg and is common in Latin America. Buses use special lanes and are boarded at high platform stations as on a metro, and provide a very fast service. But they are cheaper than rail systems because they do not need bridges and pass through ordinary road junctions. The two proposed routes would have run from the baixa to Zimpeto and to Magoanine. http://www.verdade.co.mz/tema-de-fundo/35-themadefundo/59178-metro-de-superficie-para-maputo-parece-esquecido-obras-do-brt-adiadas-qsine-dieq-por-falta-de-dinheiro

By: Joseph Hanlon

Source: News reports & clippings