China formalises credit for Catembe Bridge

The Exim Bank of China on Wednesday in Beijing formalised an agreement to provide US$72.5-m US dollars in credit to finance the building of a bridge across Maputo Bay linking the centre of the capital city with the district of Catembe. The credit was formalised through the signing of an agreement by the Mozambiquan minister of finance, Manuel Chang, and the vice-president of the Exim Bank of China, Zhu Xinqulanga. According to the Mozambiquan ministry of finance, this amount represents 10% of the total funding for the project, which also includes a 120-kilometre long tarred road from Catembe to the tourist resort of Ponta do Ouro in the far south of the country, on the border with the SA province of KwaZulu-Natal. The bridge will be 2 700-metres long, and will stand 48-m above the Bay of Maputo, allowing ships of any size to enter and leave Maputo port.