Mozambique: Emergency work on Zambezia road promised

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Mozambique: Emergency work on Zambezia road promised

5:58 CAT | 18 Mar 2021

Photo: MMO

Mozambique’s Minister of Public Works, Joao Machatine, has promised that earthworks will begin shortly to make passable key stretches of a regional road in the central province of Zambezia, reports the independent television station STV.

Regional road 558 is about 100 kilometres long, and links the districts of Milange and Mulumbo. Two stretches are now virtually impassable. They were not in a good state to begin with, and the heavy rains falling in Zambezia in recent days have turned them into quagmires.

Traders and transport operators in Zambezia are begging the government to intervene and patch up the road.

“We have no alternative and so we are doing badly”, said transport operator Joao Santos to STV. “We want the government to intervene to put a stop to this. I’ve been stuck here for two days, and I don’t know what to do. My truck’s buried in the mud, and I can’t get it out”.

Graciano Alfredo, a trader from Mulumbo, told STV that he bought 50 sacks of maize, but now cannot take it to Mulumbo. His truck has been paralysed for three days, and he has been unable to remove his merchandise.

Machatine visited the road and saw the plight of men such as Santos and Alfredo for himself. Some of the vehicles used by Machatine’s delegation also became trapped in the mud, and it was only thanks to the help and the muscle power of the local communities that they could be moved.

Machatine promised emergency earth-moving work on the two critical sections which will cost about 350 million meticais (4.8 million US dollars, at current exchange rates).

“This is emergency work”, said the Minister. “The contractor will have to make a major effort on the job to return dignity to the population. As you know, this road is on the border with Malawi, and we can’t allow people to opt for life in Malawi rather than here just because of the roads”.

Watch the Miramar TV report below