Mozambique: Incomáti River bridge to raise 1.7 million meticais in first months – Minister

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Mozambique: Incomáti River bridge to raise 1.7 million meticais in first months – Minister

1:18 CAT | 24 Nov 2016

Noticias

The average monthly revenue from tolls on the Marracuene-Macaneta bridge in Maputo province is expected to reach 1.7 million meticais in the first months of operation, project manager Maputo Sul Development Company told Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Carlos Bonete Martinho, on the occasion of the bridge’s inauguration.

The project, according to Carlos Bonete Martinho, incorporates the principle of ‘user pays’ to ensure maintenance and sustainability and provide assistance to users in case of need.

The toll station has been in operation since 17 October and charges a minimum of 50 meticais for motorcycles and light vehicles and a maximum of 900 meticais for heavy vehicles with five or more axles.

Addressing attendees at the US$15.6 million project inauguration, Minister Martinho said the bridge would ensure a safer, more reliable and comfortable crossing of the river and reduce travel time between the village of Marracuene and Macaneta, thereby eliminating local, regional and national asymmetries and enabling a multiplicity of development initiatives.

The new bridge would underpin the development of the coastline from Macaneta to Bilene in Gaza province, boosting tourism and other business development, he said. It would also reduce transaction costs for agricultural and other products by facilitating movement between the coast and the interior.

“Once this part of the work is completed, we can move on to other investment fronts, as we know that this infrastructure will contribute to the increase of local production, especially in agriculture and livestock, and thus ensure the well-being of the population. It also opens new business opportunities that could transform Macaneta into an excellent tourist destination with excellent beaches close to the region’s main ports and airports,” he added.

China’s ambassador to Mozambique, Su Jian, whose country financed the bridge, part of the Maputo ring road project, wished Macaneta a bright future as “the brightest pearl in the vicinity of Maputo”.

“China’s biggest dream for Mozambique is to make traditional Sino-Mozambican friendship an engine of bilateral cooperation, helping Mozambique to transform human and natural potential into motors of economic development as soon as possible, thereby benefiting the Mozambican people,” Su Jian said .

The governor of Maputo province, Raimundo Diomba, called on the population to look after the infrastructure so that it could do service for much longer.

The project to build the 300 metre bridge began in January 2015 and took 328 days to complete. Prior to its completion, the crossing was undertaken on a barge with limited cargo capacity and subject to frequent breakdowns.

Source: Noticias