Plans to repair rail link

Mozambique needs about US $300 million to reconstruct the 600 kms Sena railway line that suffered damage during the country's 16-year civil war that ended in 1992. The country's president,Joaquim Chissano was quoted on Monday as saying Mozambique is talking to potential investors from the United States, China and Italy to provide financing for the reconstruction project. "We are on the verge of constructing a new railway line, but the main constraint is financing," Chissano told delegates attending the Southern Africa Economic Forum in Durban on Monday. Several key industries, including mining, depend on refurbishing the railway which links the port of Beira to Malawi. The rail line is crucial to reviving Mozambique's huge Moatize coal fields in the northwest, which is expected to begin small-scale production which will be exported to neighbouring Malawi. Total output from the coal fields is estimated at 10 million tonnes annually, Chissano said. The railway is also key to exporting sugar, timber and cotton from the Sena region.