New bridge to unite north and south and spur growth

The signing this week of a US $80 million contract for the construction of a two kilometre-long bridge across the Zambezi River will have far reaching consequences for Mozambique. "It is one of the most economic and politically significant developments for Mozambique, linking the north and the south of the country," said Dr Lorenco Sambo, an economist working for the parastatal Investment Promotion Centre. Although Mozambique's annual economic growth has reached double digits since the end of a 16-year civil war in 1992, the growth has been lopsided. Most of the development has taken place in the capital, Maputo, and along the Maputo corridor in the south, which links Mozambique to its prosperous neighbour, South Africa. The central province of Zambezia has remained relatively undeveloped, although it is one of the most populous and fertile regions, once dubbed the breadbasket of Mozambique with the potential to feed the whole country. The construction of the bridge by the Portuguese consortium Mota Engil/Soares da Costa, due to be completed by 2009, would allow Zambezia to export its food surpluses to the drought-prone south. Currently the only way of crossing the Zambezi River, Mozambique's largest, is an inefficient ferry capable of carrying only a handful of vehicles on each 20-minute trip. The long-awaited bridge - funded by the European Union, Sweden and Italy - would allow farmers in Zambezia to exploit the markets emerging with the booming tourist trade along Mozambique's coast. "I have travelled in one of the small planes from Johannesburg to the coastal resort of Vilankulos, and we are in the plane travelling with tomatoes, onions and meat from South Africa to supply the resorts," said Sambo. He noted the bridge would also be politically significant, ending the country's "north and south divide". The main opposition party, Renamo, has continually complained that the north of the country has been marginalised by the southern-based FRELIMO government. Luis Lalgy, owner of the Maputo-based Lalgy Transport company, said the bridge would make a huge difference to his firm. "It is easier to transport to neighbouring countries, even with all the border formalities, than to Zambezia." It currently takes truckers four to five days to haul goods the 1,500 km from Maputo to Quelimane, the provincial capital of Zambezia, compared to three days for the 1,800 km journey to Blantyre in neighbouring Malawi. "It is even worse at the end of the year or during holidays when the volume of traffic increases, our trucks could be stuck waiting for the ferry to cross the Zambezi for more than a day," said Lalgy.