This Wednesday, the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, inaugurated two bridges that mark the end of the suffering of motorists who were forced to dump their loads in order to pass over the old bridge, which was already in an obsolete state.

As a result, travel times between the northern and southern regions of Mozambique will be considerably reduced with the inauguration yesterday of a new bridge over the Save River and the rehabilitation of another in an adjacent area linking the provinces of Inhambane and Sofala.

The infrastructure, named "06 de Agosto", has a budget of around 5.6 billion meticais, financed entirely by the state budget.

Speaking on the occasion, Nyusi said that the construction of a new bridge over the Save River and the rehabilitation of the old one is part of the project to guarantee the country's connection via National Road Number 1 (N1) and aims to tackle climate change. It will also boost the national economy.

Quoted by AIM, Nyusi said that the government is mobilizing resources for the construction of roads linking the N1

"With the conclusion of the construction work on the new bridge over the Save and the rehabilitation of the old one, the continuous flow of traffic over the river is assured. With the Save river crossing ready, the government is concentrating on mobilizing complementary funding for this bridge."

On that occasion, Nyusi announced the construction of another bridge over the Save River.

"We are currently working to structure the financing for the construction of another bridge linking the districts of Massingir in the Gaza district and Mussurize and Machaze in the province of Manica," he said.

He added that the construction of the new bridge is also in line with the Mozambican government's strategy of creating an alternative road to the EN1 through Macie-Chókwè, Guijá-Mabalane, Mapai-Massingir, Mossurize Chimoio to Muxúngue or Inchope"

For his part, the representative of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) said that the new bridge would considerably shorten travel times.

He explained that, with the old bridge, the journey time increased by around 40 percent. For the city of Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado province, the increase in travel time was greater, reaching around 50 percent. This means that from 10 days of travel today, with the existence of the bridge, travel time has been reduced from three to seven days.

The new infrastructure, with capacity to accommodate up to 50 tons, has two viaducts in opposite directions and is of the suspended and pre-reinforced type, with three spans of 210 meters and two of 110, totaling 810 meters in length and a 7.20 meter wide carriageway.

The new bridge is about 1,000 meters long and 13.5 meters wide and is designed for all types of vehicles, while the rehabilitated bridge is only reserved for light vehicles.

The construction work was carried out by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which was also responsible for the Maputo/Ka Tembe bridge and the Maputo ring road.