25 October 2009
Nacala — The Mozambican government is planning two new rail lines that will link the centre of the country to the northern line that runs from the port of Nacala to Malawi.
Transport Minister Paulo Zucula told AIM that one of the lines would be dedicated to the export of coal by the Brazilian mining giant Vale, which holds one of the two mining concessions in the Moatize coal basin, in Tete province (the other is held by the Australian company, Riversdale).
"We shall have a line dedicated to coal, and Vale, for reasons of economic and financial viability, will clearly choose the cheapest route", said Zucula. "Then we shall have another line dedicated to development, which would go ahead with or without the coal. The government projects this line to cross Zambezia province, starting in the area of Mutarara, crossing into Zambezia in Morrumbala, crossing Gurue district, and linking up with the Nacala line in Malema, Mutuali or Ribaue (in Nampula province)". (The starting point for this projected line, Mutarara, is in Tete province, on the Sena line that runs from Moatize to the port of Beira).
"So we will have two lines", said Zucula. "But they won't have the same function, they won't cost the same, and they don't have the same structure".
Zucula was speaking after the signing on Friday, in Nacala, of the protocol of intentions of the "Nacala XXI" project, which envisages investment of 1.6 billion US dollars in Nacala port and the railways feeding it. The protocol was signed by the government, Vale and the Mozambican group, Insitec Investments, which is the main shareholder in the Northern Development Corridor (CDN), the consortium that operates the port and the existing line.
A key player in the northern corridor is Malawi. "Right now the client who does most to make the Nacala line function is Malawi", said Zucula. "So I invited the Malawian Transport Minister (Kumbo Kachali) here as a guest to witness this ceremony".
CDN chief executive officer, Fernando Couto, told AIM that the line carrying coal from Moatize to Nacala will be about 900 kilometres long. But if the existing railways are used, only an extra 100 kilometres needs to be built from scratch in southern Malawi
However, Couto warned that the current rail system inside Malawi is in poor condition, "so in practice, I would say that construction of a new line, or far-reaching rehabilitation of the existing line is required. The best thing to do is use the existing route, so that there are no implications of displacing people. The line is already there - but the tracks will have to be taken up and the line rebuilt inside Malawi".
On the Mozambican side of the border, donor funds ensured the rehabilitation of the line from Nacala as far as Cuamba, in Niassa province. But the final 77 kilometres from Cuamba to the Malawian border needs rehabilitation to bring it up to the same quality as the rest of the liNacala (Mozambique), 25 Oct (AIM) - ne.
Further investments are needed on the Cuamba-Nacala stretch, including strengthening bridges, and eliminating tight curves which currently limit the size of trains to a maximum of 25 wagons.
Couto said that when coal exports begin, "the trains will up to 100 wagons long. But currently, even with 25 wagons, the train seems very long, and needs two locomotives to pull it".
Some families in Nacala city have built houses close to the railway, and Couto said they will have to be resettled. "There's no way that the train can pass so close to people's houses, for their own comfort and safety", he stressed.
Couto said that a projected route across southern Malawi has existed since 1964. Malawian dictator Kamuzu Banda had even suggested that the Nacala-Malawi line should have a branch running to Moatize, but the Portuguese colonial government was not interested.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
