Mozambique: Tender on US-funded bridge and ring road to go ahead in January

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Mozambique: Tender on US-funded bridge and ring road to go ahead in January

2:38 CAT | 17 Dec 2024

in file CoM

The Millennium Challenge Account – Mozambique (MCA), with US funding of US$500 million, aims to build a new bridge over the Licungo River, Zambézia, and a ring road.

The information is contained in an announcement seen today by Lusa, stating that the MCA plans to publish a ‘Specific Tender Announcement’ for the project and release the document “at the end of January 2025”.

Almost a year ago, the Development Office of Compact II in Mozambique announced that it planned to launch the tender for the same project “during the first part of 2024”.

The project concerned, the same announcement read, is the construction of a new bridge and ring road on the N1 road crossing the Licungo River, near Mocuba:

“The existing bridge over the Licungo River is congested, has exceeded its useful life, and is no longer fit for purpose. It has been damaged by floods twice since its construction in the 1940s, and there are no practical alternatives for heavy trucks to cross the Licungo River when it is damaged by floods.”

The project envisages the construction of a new bridge 1,800 metres long, around 5,000 metres downstream from the current crossing, as well as 16 kilometres of new access road to connect the bridge to the N1.

Zambézia province, Mozambique’s second most populous province, known for its tea plantations, mangroves and beaches, will be the focus of a new US$500 million (around €475.5 million) project by the US agency Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

The financing, called Compact II and signed on 20 September 2023 at the Capitol in Washington in the presence of Mozambican head of state Filipe Nyusi, includes a new bridge over the Licungo River and a ring road in the central coastal province, which has been hit by the cyclones that have affected Mozambique in recent years.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a foreign aid agency funded by the US government that provides grants to developing countries, and its board of directors announced this financing compact, called the Mozambique Coastal Resilience and Connectivity Compact, the second since 2007, last June.

This second compact focuses on improving transport networks in rural areas, encouraging commercial agriculture through political and fiscal reforms, and improving coastal livelihoods through climate resilience initiatives.

The US investment is joined by the Mozambican government’s contribution of US$37.5 million (€35.6 million).

Overall, the MCC is allocating US$310.5 million (€295.2 million) to Rural Transport and Connectivity (RTC) projects, including the bridge over the Licungo River and the construction of the Mocuba bypass, a project valued at US$201 million (€191.1 million).

Almost US$83.5 million (€79.4 million) is earmarked for the construction of rural roads, and US$11 million (€10.5 million) is earmarked for road maintenance, among other things.

The Agricultural Project Investment and Reforms (ARP) component has been allocated US$30 million, half of which will go to the Agricultural Investment Taxation Reforms package and the other half to set up the Zambézia Province Trade Aggregation Platform.

The third structural component, worth US$100 million (€95 million), is aimed at Coastal Livelihoods and Climate Resilience (CLCR) projects to boost productivity “through sustainable increases in fish and shellfish harvesting and through non-extractive activities”, but also using “sustainable ecosystem benefits, such as carbon credits and coastal protection benefits”.

Source: Lusa