Maputo, Mozambique – During a meeting in the capital of Mozambique, the country’s Council of Ministers has approved a concession for construction and exploration of a 780-kilometre railway linking the city of Moatize, in the province of Tete, to the Port of Nacala, in Nampula, on the Indian Ocean coast. The work will be carried out by a consortium of which the Brazilian mining company Vale will own an 80% stake and the Mozambican government, by means of the state-owned CFM, will own 20%.
Construction is expected to take three years. Through the railway, approximately 40 million tonnes of coal will be carried to the Port of Nacala, to be loaded onto ships. Vale is the leading mining company operating in Mozambique, with approximately 1,400 employees, 40% of which are Brazilians who are involved in fossil fuel exploration in Tete.
Total investment should be US$ 1.5 billion. The Mozambican government expects the trains to carry passengers as well as cargo, as do the trains operated by Vale in Brazil – Vitória-Minas and Carajás-São Luís, in the state of Maranhão.
The building of the railway will render another railway feasible: the line between the neighbouring country Malawi and Moatize, in Mozambique. Malawi has no access to sea and the railway might be an alternative for importing and exporting products and carrying passengers. Vale has also shown interest in building and operating this railway at an estimated implementation cost of US$ 700 million.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
