Mozambique Bio, an environmental conservation organization, warns of the possible disappearance of the Maputo National Park and the Maputo Environmental Protection Area (APA) if the railway-port project in Techobanine, in the district of Matutuine, Maputo province, materializes.

On Friday (12), the governments of Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe signed a tripartite agreement to apply for funding from the African Development Bank and to transport goods between the three nations.

Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe sign agreements to make Techobanine port viable

According to Moçambique Bio, the feasibility of the project will also lead to Mozambique being banned from international conventions, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The organization's warning states that the railroad planned to link Mozambique and Zimbabwe would cost billions of dollars, and would have to cross South Africa or Zimbabwe. In addition, it indicates that the project will lead to the construction of roads, railroads and a polluting mineral port in an area that is currently under environmental protection, "a sanctuary for important herbivorous animals, turtles, dolphins and whale sharks".

But he also points to the controversy that "the same government that says it wants to build a port here wants the same area to be declared a World Heritage Site".