The government revealed on Saturday, June 15, that the Saudi Fund for Development has made a total of 50 million dollars (3.1 billion meticais) available to support the rehabilitation process of 27 kilometres of the National Road Number 1 (N1), which connects the entire country, from north to south.
According to the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Carlos Mesquita, the sections linking Benfica and Zimpeto, in Maputo city, and between 3 de Fevereiro and Incoluane, in Maputo province, will be rehabilitated.
“The project is well underway, and it is urgent that we resolve the situation of the road, which is in a state of disrepair. The highlighted sections will benefit from four carriageways, two in each direction, including pavements, pedestrian bridges and public lighting,” he explained.
He emphasised that in the next few days the public tender will be launched to hire the consultants who will work with the teams deployed, adding that the National Roads Administration (ANE) is responsible for the conceptual design of the project.
“We have guaranteed funding. However, the start of the works will depend on the results of the analyses we’ll have of the soils and the issues of occupation of the road reserve areas,” he concluded.
In April 2022, the government announced its intention to rehabilitate the N1 and, according to calculations made at the time by the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, the work was budgeted at 750 million dollars.
The rehabilitation, which includes the construction of a total of 13 tolls, will cover 1,300 kilometres of the 2,477 kilometres of the road.
Last year, the World Bank provided around 400 million dollars in funding for the project.
The organisation’s vice-president for Africa, Victoria Kwakwa, described the infrastructure as “very important” for Mozambique and neighbouring countries.
“It’s important that [the road] is in a condition to contribute to the productivity and efficiency of the economy, not only of Mozambique, but also of the countries in the region,” he emphasised.
For his part, the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Carlos Mesquita, said at the time that “the Executive is continuing its efforts with the World Bank and the technical teams we have established to jointly develop a specific programme and implementation schedule for the work, so that we can start it by the end of 2023”.
Mesquita also said that procedures are being drawn up to guide the selection of the companies that will carry out the work on the N1, and that the first phase will include the rehabilitation of 508 of the 1,050 kilometres of road identified as “difficult to pass”.
