MAPUTO — Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario has told members of Parliament that negotiations are under way with potential contractors to rehabilitate more than 500 kilometres of the country’s main north-south highway but on the basis of the user pays, which will mean toll collection at regular intervals.
In debates at the Assembly of the republic here this week, deputies from the rebel movement and main opposition party, Renamo, had complained repeatedly of the poor state of much of the EN1 Highway.
Rosario agreed that conditions on the road must be improved, bearing in mind its role in promoting national unity, but added that the vehicles using the road would have to pay for the improvements, which will not be cheap.
Rosario said that repairing 309 km of EN1 from Inchope in Manica province to Caia, on the south bank of the Zambezi River, would cost 250 million US dollars. Further south, in Inhambane province, the 125-km stretch from Pambara to the Save River will cost 100 million USD, while the final stretch under consideration, the 75 km from the Lurio River to Metoro in Cabo Delgado province, will cost 65 million USD.
Motorists have become used to driving on most Mozambican roads free of charge, the main exception being the Maputo-South Africa motorway, which is operated by the South African company, Trans-African Concessions (TRAC).
The government has repeatedly promised to install toll gates on other roads, but these intentions have not yet been put into practice.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK