The date for the start of rehabilitation work on National Road Number One (N1), the backbone of the country, may change after the launch of the public tender to select the contractor was postponed.

Initially scheduled to start in October and November, the work has been delayed due to certain requirements from the World Bank, which is financing the rehabilitation of the highway.

The information was shared a few days ago in Maputo province by the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Carlos Mesquita, on the sidelines of a recent visit to the rehabilitation works on National Road Number Two (N2).

Quoted by the newspaper Notícias, Mesquita explained that the government is working on the aspects mentioned to ensure that the public tender is launched soon. However, he noted that this could influence the actual start of the works.

He added that the 45-day tender should have been launched at the beginning of last month, but certain aspects meant that it had to be postponed.

In the meantime, consultants hired for preliminary work have completed the traffic count, analysis and typology of the road, geometry, geophysical and geotechnical tests and others, so that the document can go out to tender to hire the contractor.

The sector has received the first draft of the tender document. The rehabilitation of the N1 includes major work on 508 kilometers of the Inchope/Gorongosa and Gorongosa/Caia sections.

At MayDuring a visit to various projects located in Sofala province, in the center of the country, as part of the implementation of the government's Five-Year Program, the Minister of Public Works expressed his satisfaction with the level and quality of the work underway on the stretch of the N1 between Inchope and Gorongosa and other ongoing projects in Sofala province.

After touring the Inchope-Gorongosa section, Mesquita said he was satisfied with the progress of the works, with only a few aspects still to be completed, namely the drainage, which is seen as fundamental to guaranteeing the longevity of the infrastructure.

Photo (DR)