Sanday Chongo Kabange AfricaNews reporter in Lusaka, Zambia
Energy projects and a Trans-African rail link centered on the Port of Nacala enhance prospects for Mozambique and the rest of the region to emerge from the current crisis. Under initial routing plans for the railway, Nacala will be connected to Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, DRC and the rest of the continent.
Paulo Zucula, Mozambique’s minister for transport and communications, said recently that the Cairo-Cape Town railway project, inspired by the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), envisages that one strategic hub will be the port of Nacala in Mozambique’s northern province of Nampula.
“Mozambique has already made its contribution in terms of infrastructures. “Some sections of track operated by Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique across the country just need to be rebuilt,” said the minister, according to Mozambique’s daily newspaper Correio da Manha.
The Trans-African railway also involves the African Union (AU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) and is valued at US$ 1.2 billion. International financial institutions have already pledged funding.
The Trans-African rail link will allow the Mozambican authorities to counteract the trend for falling foreign investment in the country, which is set to continue until at least the end of 2009, according to a recent report from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) - part of the World Bank group.
Energy projects and a Trans-African rail link centered on the Port of Nacala enhance prospects for Mozambique and the rest of the region to emerge from the current crisis. Under initial routing plans for the railway, Nacala will be connected to Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, DRC and the rest of the continent.
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