EN1 rehabilitation budgeted at US$750 million

Maputo, 5 Apr (AIM) – Mozambique estimates at about US$750 million the funding needed to guarantee the rehabilitation and maintenance of the country’s main south-north highway (EN1), according to a report in the daily newspaper “Noticias” on 5 April.

The Minister of Public Works, Carlos Mesquita, said that the government has been mobilizing funds from the World Bank and expects the first disbursement (US$450 million) to be made available in April so that work can begin on some critical stretches of a road which runs for 2.477 kilometres and is often referred to as the country’s “backbone”.

The amount will be channelled for the rehabilitation of the stretches from Pambara to the Save River in the southern Inhambane province; from the Save to Inchope between Inhambane and Manica; from Inchope to Caia, on the south bank of the Zambezi, within Manica and Sofala provinces; from Caia to Nicoadala between Sofala and Zambezia; and from Metoro to Pemba in Cabo Delgado.

The stretches, Mesquita pointed out, need far-reaching intervention, and other sections of the EN1 also demand rehabilitation. Besides the EN1, the National Roads Fund has been mobilising funds for the construction of bridges such as the one connecting Gaza and Manica provinces, seen as vital for the country’s economy.

Mesquita has also guaranteed that the construction of the 13 toll gates along EN1 will be finished by June, within the scheduled timeframe. The recruitment and selection of the staff for the three toll gates within Inhambane province (at Nhacundela, Malova and Mapinhane) has already been closed.

The public tender, launched in 2021, envisages the construction of 13 tolls under the user-payer approach intended to ensure revenue generation for the periodic maintenance of EN1.
(AIM)