The Mozambican government has decided to create a commission to evaluate the terms of the concession contract for the National Road N4, which connects Maputo to the border with South Africa at Ressano Garcia. The current concession, granted to the South African company Trans African Concessions (TRAC), expires in 2027 after 30 years of operation.
The decision was made on Tuesday, June 3, during the 19th ordinary session of the Council of Ministers, which approved a resolution authorizing the formation of a technical team tasked with analyzing the terms of the contract currently in force. The goal is to project scenarios for the post-2027 period, when the concession agreement between the Mozambican State and TRAC expires.
The N4 is Mozambique’s main highway and one of the region’s most strategic road corridors, ensuring the connection between the city of Tshwane in South Africa and the port of Maputo. The road is approximately 570 kilometers long, nearly 100 kilometers of which cross Mozambican territory. It was built and has been managed by TRAC since 1997 under a private financing and maintenance model.
According to data from the concessionaire, the original contract represented an initial investment of about 155 million dollars (9.9 billion meticais), with an additional 52 million dollars (3.3 billion meticais) spent on continuous improvement and rehabilitation works, plus regular maintenance costs estimated at about 10,000 dollars per kilometer (640,000 meticais per kilometer) along the entire route.
The evaluation comes amid recent tensions surrounding the concession. After the 2024 general elections, the N4 became the site of protests triggered by calls to stop toll collection, made by former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who disputed the election results and advocated ending the concession. For several weeks, toll stations in Maputo were vandalized and temporarily closed, with toll collection only resuming in January 2025.
At that time, TRAC officials reported “severe damage” to toll infrastructure and acknowledged that the concession’s future was uncertain, depending on political stabilization and decisions to be made by the governments of Mozambique and South Africa.
However, the company emphasized that all funds collected from tolls are reinvested in road maintenance, that the road employs about 500 workers, and supports community projects in both countries.
Among the options under consideration for the post-2027 period are renewing the current contract, putting the concession up for tender, transferring management back to the national road agencies (ANE and SANRAL), or adopting a mixed model.
With the creation of this new commission, the Government initiates the formal process of reassessing the N4 concession, aiming to ensure that its future management aligns with the country’s strategic, economic, and social interests.
Source: Lusa
