Transport minister launches bus rapid transit plan for Maputo area – Watch

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Transport minister launches bus rapid transit plan for Maputo area – Watch

10:47 CAT | 14 Apr 2023

Screen grab: TVM

The ‘Move Maputo’ project, which is funded by the World Bank to the tune of US$250 million, includes exclusive lanes for public buses and the possibility of acquiring 120 buses.

Mozambique’s minister of transport and communications., Mateus Magala, on Thursday launched the ‘Move Maputo’ transport project, whose declared aim is to “improve urban mobility” and “solve transport problems” in the Maputo metropolitan area.

The project provides for the implementation of the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) public transport system, consisting of rapid transit buses, the minister said during the launch of the initiative in Maputo.

“The BRT system, successfully implemented in over 300 cities around the world, provides exclusive lanes for public transport buses, and is an accessible and fast alternative to solve many of our transport problems,” Magala said.

According to the minister, the country’s weak “road network and low connectivity, poor institutional coordination, the informalisation of operators and unsustainable funding” are among the main causes of its transport problems.

“The ‘Move Maputo’ project aims to respond to these challenges,” he said, promising that the BRT system would decongest road traffic, reduce travel time and the level of environmental pollution, as well as increasing road safety.

The BRT system is initially to be implemented in two corridors, Baixa-Magoanine and Zimpeto-Matola Gare, benefiting over 124,000 passengers, the minister added.

Magala said that neighbourhoods covered by the system would have “safer and more resilient access roads, improved street lighting, cycle paths, asphalted roads and water drainage systems.

The project, which is funded by the World Bank to the tune of $250 million (€226 million), includes exclusive lanes for public buses and the possibility of acquiring 120 buses, Magala added.

Mozambique’s government hopes that by July 2026 the system will be “fully operational and able to offer quality services.”

The Maputo metropolitan area, with around 3 million inhabitants, covers the district of Marracuene and the municipalities of Maputo, Matola and Boane, and has over 70% of the country’s fleet of vehicles, according to figures given by the minister.

The transport sector in Mozambique is one of the most deficit-ridden in terms of public services in the country, with a heavy reliance on road transport, where funding shortages have led to the use of open-top vehicles, jokingly known as “my love” due to the physical proximity in which passengers are forced to travel in the cargo box, and the need to sometimes hug each other to avoid falling out onto the road.

The situation has been tending to worsen due to the escalation of fuel prices, with passenger transport providers staging a series of stoppages in several of the country’s cities, in protest at the failure to increase travel fares, which are regulated, despite operators’ demanding price increases to cover soaring costs.

Source: Lusa / TVM