A new road in the northern province of Cabo Delgado in Mozambique now provides easier access to the border with Tanzania.
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi inaugurated the road in Mueda district last Friday.
The 70-kilometre paved road runs from Roma in Mozambique and ends at the Unity Bridge over the Rovuma River, which forms the boundary between Mozambique and Tanzania.
The first stone for the new road was laid in October 2018. It was budgeted at about $31.3 million (about R576m at the current exchange rate), and financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Nyusi said the road would facilitate trade and the movement of people between the two countries. It would reduce journey time and the cost of maintaining vehicles.
"This road will facilitate national, international and cross-border trade, contributing to an increase in incomes, and a growth of the economy,” he added.
Paving it is part of the government's vision of connecting the entire country by road from the village of Negomano to the north through to the resort of Ponta de Ouro (on the border with the South African province of Kwazulu-Natal) in the south.
"The road is a palpable asset for implementing the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area,” he added.
He believes it will stimulate tourism since it is near the eastern end of the Niassa National Reserve, the country's largest conservation area. It could also develop agricultural value chains and promote the industrialisation of the continent.
