The Confederation of Mozambican Economic Associations (CTA) said that the rehabilitation of the country’s main road will put an end to the “martyrdom” faced by carriers and passengers, due to the sharp degradation of the infrastructure.
Last Friday, the Mozambican government announced the start of the first phase of rehabilitation work on National Road 1 (EN1) by the end of this year, with funding of around US$400 million (375 million euros) that the World Bank approved in August for the first phase.
The CTA’s vice president for freight transport, Flávio Naiene, said that it took a truck with a load of cargo up to two days to travel just over 1,200 kilometres from Maputo in the south to Beira in the centre, whilst previously the same route was covered in just one day.
The worst stretch – which will be the first to be built – between Inchope and Caia, links the central provinces of Manica, Sofala and Zambézia, but the only thing left of the road is scattered pieces of tar that trucks have to negotiate at great cost, according to other drivers.
There, it takes up to ten hours to cover 300 kilometres.
The road carriers of passengers and cargo only stay in business on the EN1 as a matter of survival, but several have already given up due to the high losses caused by the poor state of the road, said Flávio Naiene.
He noted that the degradation of the road was also the cause of the high number of accidents and deaths.
On the other hand, the EN1 has no hard shoulders or parking areas to allow damaged vehicles to be parked or to make it easier for drivers making long journeys to rest, he explained.
The official criticised the payment of tolls on a rundown road, arguing that it is a charge without the corresponding quality service.
“We are not against tolls per se, because they are necessary for road maintenance, but for now it is a fixed cost without counterpart,” he said.
Naiene argued that the government should ensure the “reconstruction” of the EN1 and not just rehabilitation, given the accentuated level of degradation of the infrastructure, and ensure that there were no breaks between the various phases of work, so that the result of repairing a section of road is not cancelled out in a road that has yet to be rehabilitated.
On the other hand, he continued, a periodic maintenance plan is necessary, aiming at a greater longevity of the infrastructure and its use by future generations.
The CTA’s vice president for freight transport noted that the rehabilitation and maintenance of EN1 would make it possible to boost the country’s economy and attract more investment.
Lusa
