The South African concessionaire for the N4, Trans Africans Concessions (TRAC), will no longer be delivering the work to widen the section between Tchumene and Novare (Section 17), in Matola, by the end of October this year. This week, a senior team from TRAC was in Maputo to discuss the delays with the government and presented a new deadline: the end of December.
The Director General of the National Roads Administration (ANE), Eng Elias Paulo, made the revelation to Carta. He said that TRAC had promised to deliver the section with four lanes by December, as stipulated in the plan.
Everything else will be done later. Paulo added that TRAC has updated its building plan, which includes two side services running along the same stretch, two local traffic collectors on either side between Tchumene Junction and Novare, as well as the Malhampsene interception, which will be improved. Another clarification was the mention that the road will also have two pedestrian bridges, namely one in Malhampsene and another in the Tchumene area, in a place yet to be identified.
The TRAC managers came to Maputo at the express request of the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Carlos Mesquita, who is annoyed by the delay in widening the road, which is too chaotic due to its narrowing and the dispute with heavy lorries transporting minerals from Mpumalanga to the Port of Maputo.
This is the third postponement of the work in progress, which was awarded to Inyatsi, a construction company from Eswatini, linked to the local monarch.
Last June, responding in writing to questions posed by our newspaper, TRAC told us the following, when asked about the timeframe for the work, including its services:
“Although this process is lengthy and suffered setbacks in the month of February 2023, due to heavy rains and flooding, where it was not possible to work a single day, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, since once the works are completed, the permanent congestion will be resolved. We reiterate that together with the police authorities we are doing our utmost to minimise the suffering. According to the latest programme of works, the road (pavement will be finished by the second week of September), with the erection of signs and other finishing touches remaining for the end of October 2023, and the services remaining for a later stage.”
The October date had also been given by TRAC to the Mozambican government authorities. It has now been confirmed that this will not happen. Work on widening the road began in September 2022, at a cost of 27 million USD, fully borne by the concessionaire Trans Africans Concessions (TRAC). The concession contract with TRAC ends in 2027.
Carta de Moçambique
