Investors to discuss finance for planned Nacala corridor

Anna Cox MALAWI, Mozambique and Zambia have joined forces to develop a new, $24 million project called the Nacala Development Corridor to facilitate the transportation of freight and passengers. Work planned includes the rehabilitation of a 77km stretch of railway line from Malawi to Entre Lagos in Mozambique which was damaged during the civil war in the early 90s. The aim of the corridor is to facilitate transport to ports, road and rail networks and to create a development strategy for surrounding areas. The project also includes the rehabilitation of a section of Malawi's railway line and the construction of a bridge at Chiromo in the southern Shire valley area where the railway connects to the commercial centre of Blantyre. The rail infrastructure development will see the extension of the railway line form Malawi's central region district of Mchinji to the border town of Chipata in Zambia. Finance for the project will be discussed at an investors' meeting to be held in Nampula in Mozambique in November.