Mozambique: Construction works on Port of Macuse in Zambézia to start in 2021

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Mozambique: Construction works on Port of Macuse in Zambézia to start in 2021

3:49 CAT | 27 Nov 2020

Photo: O País

It is another, new promise for the same, not-so-new port project, one that follows many others. According to the chairman of Thai Mozambique Logistics S.A (TML), Orlando Marques, this time it will not fail; work will end in 2023 and the project will start operating in 2024.

From dream to reality. Construction work on the port of Macuse in Zambézia province will start next year, came the guarantee at the International Conference in Mocuba.

During a presentation on the status of the Chitima-Macuse railway and port complex, Thai Mozambique Logística’s PCA revealed that the Macuse port complex is budgeted at just over US$3.2 billion, of which the project concessionaire currently has about US$400 million available, and is seeking to obtain the remaining amount in order to start work in 2021.

“We have already launched the international tender for the construction of the port. We will review the proposals on the 11th of December,” said Marques. “We will touch on the final part of the project.”

“There is a list of opportunities for economic agents in Zambézia – and for anyone. The part of the aggregates, from transportation and heavy machinery; all the sector of service providers, catering, cleaning, security, accommodation, manpower and other needs – all will be needed,” he added.

Chronologically, the Port of Macuse construction project started in 2013 with the signing of the concession contract. In 2017, TML was granted provisional environmental licenses, and in December of the same year, the concession contract was revised with approved feasibility studies. In 2018, the Administrative Tribunal’s visa was issued, and between 2019 and 2020 the construction process of the resettlement village begun. The plan already has an approved environmental implementation license.

The construction of the Port of Macuse having long been talked about, without any visible progress on the ground, the governor of Zambézia queried the slowness of the project.

Pio Matos said that the project should stop being a pipe-dream; from the amount of time it has been doing the rounds; the port should by now be working. Matos called for a commitment to move the project forward, so that both investors and the population would benefit.

In response to the governor, and in the presence of Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário, the chairman of Thai Moçambique Logística made a new promise: “The resources are guaranteed. This is a tripartite signature between the fund, the company that is going to build it, and TML.”

By Jorge Marcos

Source: O País