Mozambique: Agreement reached on new port in Chongoene, Gaza

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Mozambique: Agreement reached on new port in Chongoene, Gaza

7:19 CAT | 21 Dec 2021

Photo: Noticias

A private logistical company, Mozambique STT, has signed an agreement with the Chinese consortium PowerChina Hubei Engineering to finance the construction of a deep water port at Chonguene, in the southern province of Gaza, budgeted at over 324 million US dollars.

This is the first instalment of a key component in the Chonguene Development Corridor, which will cost in total more than 700 million dollars. This project has been authorized by the Ministry of Transport, through a memorandum signed with Mozambique STT, which has pledged to mobilise finance for the project without any guarantees from the state.

Work on the Chonguene port will begin in January 2022, and should be complete by June 2025. But construction must be preceded by engineering and environmental impact studies.

According to STT the contract for the first phase of building the port, worth 324.12 million dollars, was signed in Maputo on 10 December.

Chonguene will essentially be a mineral port, with the capacity to handle 150 million tonnes of cargo a year. Two new railways will be built from Chonguene – one will run for 221 kilometres to Guija district, where it will connect with the line from Maputo to Chicualacuala, on the border with Zimbabwe. The second will be a branch line to Inharrime and Jangamo, in Inhambane province.

The line to Chicualacuala will ensure that other members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and even parts of southern Angola, will have access to the new port.

If the port proves successful, it may generate traffic for the Chonguene airport, inaugurated by President Filipe Nyusi last month.

The main Mozambican cargo for the port is likely to be titanium minerals: projects to mine the heavy mineral sands on the Gaza coast have been on the drawing board for more than two decades.

Source: AIM