The managers of Nacala International Airport, in Nampula province, have decided to close the aircraft traffic at night, due to the theft of signaling materials.

This measure worsens the accounts of that airport, which since its opening in 2014, resents low traffic for its profitability.

According to Acácio Tuende, administrator of the company Aeroportos de Moçambique (Airports of Mozambique), the vandals' action was such that it considerably affected the lighting structure, that there was no other solution but to suspend night flights.

"We had this misfortune of theft of runway lights cables. We thus had to paralyze night flights until the lighting system is fully restored" said Tuende, speaking to the media in Maputo.

Cited by VOA, Tuende said that the vandalization resulted in great financial impact that only in Nacala is estimated at about 20 million Meticais (about $317,000), further sinking the accounts of that infrastructure.

White Elephant

Nacala Airport, opened in 2014, has long been considered a white elephant by analysts.

Since its opening, it has registered very little traffic, which in economic terms has not justified the promises that determined its construction, namely to boost the development of the northern region of the country.

The President of the Board of Directors of Aeroportos de Moçambique, Américo Muchanga, recently denied that the infrastructure was a failed investment.

"You have to look at that airport in the context that it will play, for example, for the development of oil and gas operations, in the Rovuma basin" Muchanga said.

Remember that Nacala Airport was built by the Brazilian company Odebrecht, through a loan granted to Mozambique by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDS).