Mozambique urges greater use of rail to combat road congestion at border

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique urges greater use of rail to combat road congestion at border

2:42 CAT | 06 Jul 2023

Photo: O País

The Mozambican government on Wednesday suggested that the use of rail transport by South African mineral exporters might mitigate the long queues for border traffic in Maputo province, in turn identified as the cause of robberies against motorists.

“We are also going to use the railways as a solution” to the mobility problems that occur on the journey between the town of Ressano Garcia on the South African border and the port of Maputo, Minister of Transport and Communication Mateus Magala told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of two mobile cranes at the port.

At stake are inadequacies in South African border services that have caused kilometre-long queues of heavy trucks at the Komatipoort-Ressano Garcia border crossing, which Mozambican authorities in turn blame for the increased incidence of robberies in the area.

Minister Magala suggested maximising the use of the ‘dry port’ in Ressano Garcia and parks for waiting trucks as possible solutions to the traffic jams occurring on the route.

“The dry port is being used, but it could be used even more,” the minister said.

Regarding reports of robberies on Mozambican drivers in South Africa, Mateus Magala said that the governments of both countries have been discussing possible solutions to the problem, pointing to unemployment as one of the causes of crime.

“It is a serious problem and the two governments, our two sister countries, are looking for sustainable solutions (…) There is a lot of unemployment and certainly there is a lot of social unrest, but we are confident that we will overcome this,” he stressed.

The South African authorities have implemented interventions in the registration system on the main (Lebombo) crossing between the two countries, 100 km from Maputo and 450 from Johannesburg, which has caused stoppages several times in recent weeks.

According to the Mozambican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the situation is the result of an extreme increase in the daily flow of trucks registered over the last two years from an average of 600 trucks a day in previous years to around 2,000 a day now.

Source: Lusa