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Mozambique: Chinese-led port concession includes construction of 73km rail line

The concession to a Chinese group, in a public-private partnership, for the construction, operation, maintenance and management of the Chongoene Port Terminal, in the Mozambican province of Gaza, includes the construction of a 73-kilometre railway line, according to the government.

“This concession also includes social projects such as the construction of the Chibuto to Chokwe railway line, approximately 73 kilometres long, maintenance of the Chibuto/ Chongoene road, construction of the road linking the EN1 in Chongoene to the terminal, a stretch of around seven kilometres, supply of water and energy to the populations surrounding the terminal, among other initiatives for the development of local communities,” reads a statement from the Ministry of Transport and Communications, to which Lusa had access on Tuesday.

The government awarded a 15-year concession, as a public-private partnership, for the construction, operation, maintenance and management of the Chongoene Port Terminal, in Gaza province, to a joint venture between China’s Desheng Port and Mozambique state railway operator Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM), according to a cabinet decree issued by Mozambique’s government on 26 August.

Meanwhile, the public deed for the contract was signed on 10 October by Mozambique’s minister of transport and communications, Mateus Magala, and the vice-president of the Chongoene Mineral Terminal Company, Qijia Xue.

According to government information, the decision to build the Chongoene Terminal is aimed at enabling various development projects in Gaza province, with the heavy sands of Chibuto being the project that makes the infrastructure viable, with the expectation of serving other local initiatives.

The concession was awarded to Sociedade Terminal de Minérios de Chongoene SA, made up of the companies Desheng Port (80%) and the CFM, with the concessionaire being “authorised” to “design, finance, build, own, operate, manage, rehabilitate, maintain, commercially exploit and develop the port infrastructure of the Chongoene Port Terminal and all related and auxiliary infrastructures,” according to the text of the decree.

“The exploitation, on an exclusive basis within the perimeter of the concession, of the port infrastructure at the Terminal Portuário de Minérios, has as its main activity the storage and handling of national heavy sands in bulk,” adds the decree, pointing out that the terminal “must have a minimum capacity of eight million metric tonnes per year, for the export of national heavy sands in bulk, which may increase depending on demand.”

The first phase of investment in the construction of the Chongoene Port Terminal is budgeted at $55 million (€49.6 million), with the promoters hoping to boost it with exports of heavy sands from Chibuto, a venture led by Desheng, whose production is estimated at 2 million tonnes a year.

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