Mozambique: Concessionaire TRAC announces 82.3-million-euro rehabilitation of the N4 Maputo-South Africa highway

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Mozambique: Concessionaire TRAC announces 82.3-million-euro rehabilitation of the N4 Maputo-South Africa highway

12:46 CAT | 24 Jan 2025

FILE - Maputo tollgates on January 23 205. ]File photo: Lusa]

The South African concessionaire TRAC announced on Thursday an investment of €82.3 million to rehabilitate the N4 highway, one of the most important in Mozambique, which links Maputo to the Ressano Garcia border.

In a statement, Trans African Concessions (TRAC) said that the work will begin in February and will last 24 months, for the “rehabilitation and widening” of the section between Ressano Garcia, the country’s main border with South Africa, and the Tchumene junction, in Matola, on the outskirts of Maputo, covering 66 kilometres.

“As the N4 is a road with a high demand for heavy traffic, it requires continuous maintenance and rehabilitation,” justifies TRAC, recalling that the management of that road, which it took over, resulted from “an international tender in which the winning concessionaire mobilised private funding for the design, construction, maintenance, rehabilitation and management of the road”.

TRAC previously announced the resumption, as of today, of toll collection on the Maputo motorway, which had been suspended in recent weeks following the post-election protests.

The information is contained in an advert entitled “Maputo toll resumes collections on Thursday”, published by TRAC, the concessionaire of the motorway that connects Tshwane, Gauteng (South Africa) and the port of Maputo (Mozambique), via the Ressano Garcia border.

The border has also been closed at various times in recent months due to the post-election demonstrations.

The company recalls that it operates the N4 “under a concession agreement signed with the South African and Mozambique road agencies”, and that this road is “a vital part of the Maputo Corridor Development Plan, boosting regional economic growth and connectivity”, which from the outset ensures the export of South African ores via the Mozambican coast.

“The toll fees finance the construction, modernisation and maintenance of roads, guaranteeing international standards,” reads the announcement.

Former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane called in December, during the post-election protests in Mozambique, for tolls not to be paid in the country, and following the destruction and vandalisation of some collection booths, several booths were closed without taking payments, including on the N4.

Meanwhile, in a document published on Tuesday with 30 measures he is demanding for the next 100 days, Mondlane, who does not recognise the official results of the general elections on 9 October, once again called for tolls not to be charged throughout the country.

“On the N4, the tolls, given the time they have already been in place, have been profitable in relation to the investment made,” says the document signed by Venâncio Mondlane, demanding the extension of the non-payment of tolls during this period, also claiming that on several toll roads in the country “there was no public consultation” on this charge and “the principle of the alternative route was not respected”.

“Many of the roads are in a disastrous state, which offends the idea of the benefit of services,” he said.

The post-election demonstrations in Mozambique, called by Venâncio Mondlane, have led to 314 deaths and more than 600 people shot since 21 October, according to organisations on the ground, such as the electoral platform Decide, as well as violent clashes with the police, looting and the destruction of public and private facilities.

Daniel Chapo, the presidential candidate supported by the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), was declared the winner of the 9 October elections and was sworn in as the country’s fifth president on 15 January.

Source: Lusa