The Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, said today that about three-quarters of the country’s roads are not asphalted, during the general assembly of the association of road funds of Africa.
Of the total of 30,491 kilometres of classified roads in Mozambique, only “8,244 kilometres, or 27 percent, are paved,” and “22,247 kilometres, or 73 percent, are not paved,” the head of state said during the opening of the 20th General Assembly of the Association of African Road Maintenance Funds (ARMFA).
The meeting, which brings together 35 representatives of African road funds, began today and is due to run until Wednesday, under the slogan “Aligning Sustainable Financing to the Needs of the Road Sector in Africa.
Filipe Nyusi also made mention of the “low density of paved roads on the continent,” noting that about 53 percent of Africa’s roads are unpaved.
“The lack of a road network isolates people from transport corridors, links to commercial centres, access to education and health, as well as economic opportunities,” added the Mozambican president.
Nyusi also said that the scenario affects 50 percent of the rural population of the continent, who do not have access to roads, as well as causing “congestion in urban areas, especially where the confluence of cross-border corridors occurs.”
“These situations derive, to a certain extent, from the precarious maintenance of the existing roads,” the head of state mentioned.
During the three-day meeting, the Association of African Road Funds is expected to reflect, among other points, on the prioritisation of road maintenance, innovative funding mechanisms for the sector, as well as the development of partnerships for funding resilient infrastructures, the Mozambican presidency said.
The association is a non-profit organisation that serves to “share experiences and information on best practices for funding road maintenance” on the continent.
Lusa
