Up to R225bn required for Mozambique transport infrastructure

Mozambique’s publicly owned ports and rail company, CFM, needs between R180 billion and R225bn to implement all the major construction and rehabilitation projects it has on the drawing board, according to its chairman Rosario Mualeia, reports news agency AIM. Among the most expensive is a new deep-water port at Macuse in the central province of Zambezia, and a new railway linking Macuse to the Moatize coal basin in Tete. This new line would provide an alternative to the existing Sena line from Moatize to the port of Beira, which will, within a couple of years, be quite inadequate for the amount of coal that needs to be exported from Moatize. The new railway would be able to carry 25 million tonnes a year. Construction of the railway and Macuse port is scheduled to start in 2013 and is budgeted at the equivalent of over R26 billion. Another alternative route for the Moatize coal is a railway from Moatize across southern Malawi, which will link up with the existing northern railway to Nacala. This route will terminate at a new coal terminal at Nacala-a-Velha, and is financed by the Brazilian mining company Vale. Work on this line began last year, and it should be complete in 2015. The line will carry up to 30 million tonnes a year. Yet another coal route, also leads to Nacala, but using a railway that will be built entirely inside Mozambique. The new railway will branch off the Sena line at Mutarara and will cross Zambezia, joining the existing Nacala line at Mutuali, in Nampula province. This line should also carry 25 million tonnes a year. A project to boost the capacity of the Sena line to 20 million tonnes of year has begun and will be complete in 2015. This upgrading of the railway also requires a new coal terminal at Beira, which should also be ready in 2015. As for the natural gas discoveries in the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of the northern province of Cabo Delgado, these will not only require rehabilitation and expansion of the existing port in the provincial capital Pemba, but the development of an entirely new port at Palma, near the border with Tanzania. Another gigantic project is in the far south of the country. This involves building a new deep water port at Techobanine, south of Maputo city, and a railway linking it to Botswana, that will carry minerals, notably Botswanan coal.