Maputo — Mozambican Transport Minister Mateus Magala on Thursday relaunched the project for a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) scheme in the Greater Maputo Metropolitan Area.

The scheme depends on creating a network of bus lanes, from which all other vehicles are banned.

According to a report in Friday's issue of the independent daily "O Pais', the project is budgeted at 250 million dollars, and will be financed by the World Bank.

The initial phase consists of constructing new and rehabilitating existing roads. Work will begin in July this year, and should be completed by August 2024. But the BRT lanes will only be open to passengers as from mid-2026.

BRT schemes for Maputo have been spoken about for the past decade. Studies were made and routes were designed, but the huge financial crisis, resulting from the scandal of Mozambique's "hidden debts', made it impossible to put the project into practice.

Years have passed, and now the BRT has been revived, renewing hopes for better urban mobility in Maputo and Matola cities, and the adjoining towns of Boane and Marracuene.

Antonio Matos, the chairperson of the Metropolitan Transport Agency, said the immediate priority is to improve the roads in the Greater Maputo area. Much of the preliminary work, including environmental impact studies, has already been done, he added.

Once the work was completed, Matos said, about three million inhabitants of the Greater Maputo Metropolitan Area would benefit from an improved transport system as from 2026.

The initial BRT route, he said, will run for 22 kilometres. There will be ten terminals along the route, and the buses will carry 124,000 passengers a day.

Magala said 120 new buses will be acquired for the BRT. This will add an extra 40 million passengers a year to the current 105 million passengers.

"The neighbourhoods covered will have safer and more resilient access roads', the Minister said, "including street lighting and renovated pavements, as well as footpaths and cycle paths and drainage systems'.