Trans African Concession (TRAC-Mocambique) says that the start of widening, rehabilitation, maintenance and modernization work on some sections along the Maputo development corridor is conditional on the renewal of the concession contract, which expires on 28 February 2028.

This is the concession resulting from the bidding process, awarded to TRAC, through the National Roads Administration (ANE) and SARNAL, both institutions representing the states of Mozambique and South Africa, at the time led by Joaquim Chissano and Nelson Mandela.

According to a AIM says that the concessionaire of the Maputo development corridor has work to do on the Moamba-Ressano Garcia and Matola Rio sections (urban area), where it is planned to build service roads, lay new layers of asphalt and lanes, among other actions, with the aim of modernizing the arteries.

Quoted in the same publication, the director of TRAC-Mozambique, Fenias Mazive, said that the concession followed the BOT model (Build Operate and Transfer), which allows TRAC to promote projects, finance and manage them. At the end of the contract, it must transfer the infrastructure to the Mozambican government through ANE.

The project, launched in 1997, was budgeted at three billion rand and aims, among other things, to stimulate economic development between South Africa's inland provinces (Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga) and Mozambique with exports through the port of Maputo.

A total of 41.2 kilometers of roads remain to be rehabilitated, with the completion of the Moamba and Maputo tolls in 2024.

"The South African and Mozambican governments have agreed to add 100 kilometers to the existing concession (in South Africa, going from Maputo to Witbank, which is 415 kilometers, there is a Nelspruit-Machadodorp section which has two alternatives and totals 500 kilometers plus 100 kilometers between Witbank and Pretoria," said Mazive, adding that the Mozambican tolls in Moamba and Maputo are contributing 18% of revenue. It is estimated that 64% of the revenue comes from heavy vehicles.

(Photo DR)