Mozambique says plans $900 mln ports upgrade

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30 Apr 2008

Mozambique plans to invest $900 million to upgrade two of its main ports as part of a drive to become a top regional shipping centre, the transport minister said on Tuesday. Transport and Communications Minister Paulo Zucula told Reuters the upgrade at the Nacala and Beira ports in the northern and central regions included improving roads and railways linking the harbours to landlocked neighbouring states.
He said the projects would be partially financed through concessions to modernise and manage the ports, and that international tenders would be finalised soon. The rest of the funds would come from government coffers.
"We are going to invest $900 million in the next two years to upgrade the ports of Nacala and Beira, that is, tripling the initial investments and modernising the infrastructure as part of our drive to become SADCs transport hub," he said, referring to the regional Southern African Development Community grouping.
Some $400 million would be invested in Nacala and $500 million in Beira, he said.
Mozambique also planned to rehabilitate the railway system linking Beira to coal mines and areas exporting other minerals, Zucula said in an interview in the northern city of Nampula.
The minister said there was potential to ship 11 million tonnes of coal a year by 2010. He said the government also wanted to increase sugar production, which would benefit from larger ports.
"There are many economic drivers, that is: energy, ... coal, minerals and sugar. That's why we want to upgrade the port, roads and railway, because we need a comprehensive trade infrastructure making a comparative and competitive advantage for Mozambique," Zucula said.
Mozambique's ports and railways are slowly recovering after suffering during and after the country's 17-year civil war, which ended in 1992.
The Mozambique Ports & Railways Authority, which became a public company in 1995, has been operating as a commercial enterprise since then.
The southern African nation's three major ports are Maputo, Beira and Nacala, and all three are particularly useful for landlocked neighbours Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia.
"These (forms of) infrastructure have economic and financial viability which we want to tap and generate revenues, therefore bigger investments are required," Zucula said.
"It will be possible to get the money by issuing international tenders for concessions. We are currently working them out and very soon they will be launched because our plans must be completed in the next 24 months", he said.
The Port of Beira currently handles general cargo, timber, oil, grains and fertilisers. Nacala, which is a natural deep water port, focuses on petrochemicals, grains and fertilisers.
The United States is the largest investor in Mozambique, but investment from other countries including China is expanding.

Source: Reuters