Mozambique: Stakeholders meeting to boost Maputo Corridor’s efficiency

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Mozambique: Stakeholders meeting to boost Maputo Corridor’s efficiency

3:32 CAT | 03 Oct 2022

Photo: MTC

The Ministry of Transport and Communications on Friday, 30th of September, brought together all the players in the Maputo Corridor logistics chain for a discussion of mechanisms to improve the competitiveness of the corridor.

The meeting was attended by the ministers of Transport and Communications, Public Works, Housing and Water Resources and Industry and Commerce, staff from the Mozambican Tax Authority, plus corridor infrastructure operators and users, among others.

Under the motto “Maputo Corridor: A Space Of Economic Opportunities”, the meeting was preceded by detailed fieldwork, including visits to the Port of Maputo, the Ressano Garcia railway line and other infrastructure such as the Ressano Garcia Border, the International Bus Terminal and the Cargo Transit Railway Terminal.

At the end of the meeting, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Mateus Magala announced the main conclusions of the workshop, as follows.

The need to establish a management unit for the Maputo corridor, with the necessary powers to coordinate and harmonise the various investment and development initiatives in this corridor;

With the support of the cooperation partners, it was agreed to immediately carry out an assessment study of the Maputo Development Corridor, to clarify the challenges and potential of the corridor, as well as the paths to be followed to better exploit the corridor’s potential vis-à-vis various sectors of industry, commerce, agriculture and other areas of economic activity;

Capitalization of rail transport of minerals to prevent the growth of this type of cargo from creating constraints for other users of the feeder roads of the Port of Maputo;

Pursuing ongoing reforms for the digitalization and automation of goods clearance processes, as well as the introduction of multiple entry mechanisms to continuously reduce transit time at the Ressano Garcia border;

With the aim of improving efficiency and competitiveness levels, performance indicators and service levels will be established for each of the actors in the logistics chain, including the electronic sealing of containers and the interface between the port and the railway;

Continue the work in progress for the establishment of a single border, starting with the materialisation of the single virtual border;

Implementation of measures for national ports to become regional hubs, namely through legislation on transhipment and other structural reforms.

As a way of following up on the conclusions of this workshop, the technical team working on the reform of the Maputo Corridor should update the matrix under implementation, incorporating the recommendations of this meeting and ensuring its implementation.

Given the diversity of the characteristics of each development corridor in the country, the exercise carried out in the Maputo Corridor will be replicated in the Beira and Nacala Development Corridors later this year.

To monitor the progress achieved, Minister Mateus Magala announced a follow-up meeting for April 2023, where, in addition to evaluating the progress of this corridor as a whole, the progress of the Port of Maputo during its 20-year concession period will also be discussed.