South African concessionaire Trans African Concessions (Trac) has announced an investment of $85.7 million to rehabilitate the N4 linking the border at Lebombo/Ressano Garcia with Maputo.
According to Trac, the refurbishment will focus on the 66km section of the N4 between Ressano Garcia and the centre of Tchumene, in Matola on the outskirts of Maputo. The construction work will start in February and take 24 months to complete.
Trac said in a statement announcing the investment that the rehabilitation of the road in Mozambique would be completed by a concessionaire that had mobilised private funding for the design, construction, maintenance, rehabilitation and management of the road.
This comes after Trac earlier announced the resumption of toll collections on the N4, which had been suspended during the post-election civil unrest on the Mozambique side of the border.
Mozambique’s unsuccessful presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane had urged the public not to pay road tolls and some toll booths were vandalised and several were closed without receiving payments.
“Toll fees finance the construction, modernisation and maintenance of roads, guaranteeing international standards,” said Trac.
The N4 Toll Route is a 570km-long Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) toll road for which Trac has a 30-year concession with the South African National Roads Agency and the Administração Nacional de Estradas (National Roads Agency).
The parties signed the agreement in 1997 to develop, manage and maintain the road to facilitate trade and investment in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Mozambique.
