Construction of the 525-kilometre railway from Moatize, in Mozambique’s Tete province, to Macuse, in Zambézia province, and a port terminal will be awarded to a private construction company, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.
Alberto Nkutumula told the daily newspaper Notícias that the Council of Ministers had approved a decree setting out the terms for concession of the railway as well as the facilities at the Macuse port terminal.
He added that the decree set out the legal basis for the concession to a private operator, of construction, operation, maintenance and management of the facilities due to be built, as well as their commercial exploration.
The newspaper added that the project had an estimated cost of the equivalent of R35 billion and that the Thai group, Italthai Engineering, are considered to be the best candidates for the project.
The Thai group is competing against the CLZ (Zambezi Logistics System) consortium, made up of the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), Australia’s Aurizon and Mozambique’s Investe Logistica; as well as the SPI/Patel Engineering/Grindrod group with Indian and South African investors.
