Agreement reached over new Maputo rail line concession

Leonard Neill
SPOORNET OFFICIALS are confident that a new concession agreement with the Mozambique rail authorities will be signed ‘within the next few weeks.’
They believe that they have now eliminated the problems in their initial concession agreement.
The delay was caused in some sections of the original draft, according to a Spoornet spokesman, who said new issues had been incorporated which both countries had approved. The revised document will be in the hands of all concerned ‘in a few days’, he said.
The agreement was rumoured to have reached a deadlock and the South African rail company was expected to withdraw. But the Spoornet spokesman told FTW that this was merely speculation.
“We have missed target by a matter of two months or so, which is not serious,” he said. “We are satisfied now that everything will go ahead for the formal signing of the concession, and work on the redevelopment of the rail line between Ressano Garcia and Maputo will start before the year’s end.”
Once this is in place, the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) will be in a position to take over the concession to manage and rehabilitate the port.
MPDC has secured finance of $61 million to undertake the necessary services, which aim to push up freight volumes from a current four million tons to 4,6million tons a year instantly.
This will form part of the initial three-year rehabilitation programme, which will include new harbour tugs, cranes and other handling equipment. The harbour will be dredged and drainage, road and rail networks will be improved along with wharves and warehouses which are to be refurbished.
MPDC is an international consortium backed by Mersey Docks & Harbour Company (UK), construction company Skanska (Sweden) and the Portuguese port operator Liscount.