The Maputo City Council (CMCM), through its councillor for mobility and urban transport, Fernando Uache, explained to DE this Thursday, 4 April, that the municipality does not have enough funds to rehabilitate all the roads in the city.
“We all know that investments in roads are of high value, which the municipality often doesn’t have, which is why it ends up not being able to intervene immediately. But I think we’ve already seen, in recent times, the resurfacing, the asphalting of the central lanes of Avenida Eduardo Mondlane, Filipe Samuel Magaia, Avenida de Angola, and we’ll have a section of 24 de Julho rehabilitated in the near future,” he said.
Uache emphasised that, in general, the road network had improved in Maputo city. “But traffic has also increased, as there are more vehicles on the roads and, consequently, more congestion at peak times. In addition, the rains aggravate the situation, mainly because the drainage capacity is weak,” he explained.
Fernando Uache – Councillor for Mobility and Transport at Maputo City Council
Regarding the asphalting of the central lanes of the main avenues, leaving the side lanes, as is the case with Avenida Eduardo Mondlane, the councillor stressed that the main problem is the lack of financial means to complete the work, but assured that “efforts are being made to rehabilitate all the lanes”.
“If, in time, we can do the side lanes, upgrade the pavements to allow better parking and better accessibility, that will be better. One of our aims is to upgrade all the pavements,” he said.
Fernando Uache also called on heavy goods vehicle drivers to pay their road taxes to help repair the roads. “In the case of the municipality’s roads, in general, we have an attitude that must be respected. Municipal regulations include a road tax for heavy vehicles and a manifest for light vehicles. Therefore, this road tax also contributes to the repair and maintenance of the roads,” he explained.
As for companies that carry out activities that damage the roads, such as those operating in the construction sector, the CMCM source explained: “It has been found that, after the works, few companies restore the road conditions. In some cases they do, but with inadequate or inappropriate material,” adding that, generally, under these conditions, the municipality ends up fining the companies that carry out such work.
