The Mozambican government recognised the quality of the work on National Road 1 (N1), in the centre of the country, carried out by the consortium that includes the Portuguese company Mota-Engil, whose work began two months ago and has already recovered a third of what was planned.
“I have to recognise that the work is being done, I was visiting these works almost two and a half months ago, and the commitment of the contractors, the inspectors, is remarkable, and the progress we can see is gratifying,” said Mozambique’s Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Carlos Mesquita, in Nhamapaza, Gorongosa district.
At issue are emergency works on critical areas of the N1, in the centre of Mozambique, carried out by contractors Karina Construções, Concity and Mota-Engil Africa, which consist of removing asphalt in some sections and plugging potholes in others. The N1 crosses the country, linking the city of Pemba, in the province of Cabo Delgado (north), to the city of Maputo (south), covering 2,477 kilometres, but at various points it is almost impassable.
“We can see that here there is a crossroads of technology, of works that are being carried out. There’s one section that’s being covered up in advance and resurfaced ‘a posteriori’ and other sections that are in perfect condition and we’ve decided to resurface them to make them homogeneous with the work that’s being done,” added Carlos Mesquita, on a visit to the construction site.
The government official revealed that the work started two and a half months ago and has already enabled a third of the 77 kilometres to be repaired.
“It’s true that we have the rainy season ahead of us and calculations are also made on this basis. That’s why, even at weekends, they’re working at full strength. So this is dignified,” he said.
The minister added that, although the contract is running smoothly, the companies will still have to create additional teams to work on the most critical sections, in order to speed up the pace of the work.
Carlos Mesquita also revealed that the contractors responsible for this emergency intervention on the N1 have also undertaken to remain on the ground during the rainy season, which began in October, so that they can respond to specific situations.
Lusa
