Zambesi River bridge to be concessioned this year

Samora Machel bridge over the Zambezi River, in the western Mozambiquan province of Tete, is to be concessioned later this year to Estradas do Zambeze - a private consortium made up of Mozambiquan and Portuguese companies - for the next 30-years, reported the news agency AIM. According to the daily paper Noticias, this was announced by Estradas do Zambeze’s chairman, Antonio Graca, adding that the consortium will also manage the toll gate on the bridge. The bridge is part of the main road between Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, which runs through the middle of Tete province. After 22 months of traffic restrictions for rehabilitation, the bridge was reopened to normal traffic last January. In addition to the repair work on the cables, the bridge, which is about a kilometre long, was resurfaced, and repainted, and provided with new lighting. The total cost of the rehabilitation was about US$22-million. Graca added that Estradas do Zambeze will also be responsible for maintenance and surveillance of the 700-kilometre roads network along the Tete corridor – and to bring down the number of road accidents it will be increasing mechanical inspection on heavy vehicles and monitoring speed limits. The consortium is also responsible for the construction of a second bridge over the Zambezi six kilometres downstream from the Samora Machel bridge, with the cost put at just over 70-million euros. This bridge will be about two kilometres long, and will link Tete city to the town of Moatize, which is about to become the centre of the country’s coal mining industry.