Wallace Ruzvidzo Herald Reporter
MOZAMBIQUE’s railways and ports company, Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM), today resumes rail transport services on the Machipanda railway line, which links Beira and Zimbabwe, a development that will improve the ease of doing business between the two countries and allow expansion of Zimbabwean traffic to the region and the world via Beira.
President Mnangagwa a fortnight ago attended the commissioning of the newly rehabilitated US$200 million Beira-Machipanda railway line in Manica, Mozambique, a facility that is set to reduce transport costs of cargo between the two countries and the region.
The rehabilitated 317km railway line will not only reduce transport costs but also ease congestion at Forbes Border Post in Mutare, which is presently handling between 300 to 500 trucks a day, a lot of which can be replaced by rail wagons.
Through the railway line, trade tonnage between Zimbabwe and Mozambique will also increase from 600 000 tonnes to 3,5 million tonnes.
In a statement, CFM said rail services will run west-bound on Mondays and Saturdays from Beira to Machipanda, and on Tuesdays and Sundays east bound from Machipanda to Beira, adding that it was a strategic corridor for Zimbabwe.
“The 317-kilometre Machipanda line, from Beira to the border extension of Machipanda, is of strategic importance for the Beira Corridor, especially for neighbouring Zimbabwe, whose exports and imports are ensured by Mozambican ports and corridors. It is also an important way of encouraging social life,” said CFM.
Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Mozambique Mr Victor Matemadanda told The Herald yesterday that the start of the rail services will go a long way in enabling seamless trade between the two countries.
Sustained regional trade, he said, will boost the countries’ economies and ultimately the regional economy.
“Obviously, the railway is going to alleviate a lot of problems on the roads. As you know our roads are being damaged because of increased traffic. With this railway there will be improvements in movement of goods. The movement of the Mozambican train to Zimbabwe is important because the volume of traffic between the two countries has increased quite significantly in the past 12 months.
Ambassador Matemadanda said the rail services will lessen the burden on the Forbes Border Post, which had been processing more traffic than it was designed for.
Zimbabwe, he said, will also earn much needed foreign currency through the Beira corridor.
“You have heard about congestion at the border post on our side and on the Mozambican side, it is because of the volumes of traffic that have to pass through the border post. While there are plans to extend the border post that is on the vehicle side, the opening of the railway system between the two countries will see a lot of passengers and cargo moving between the two countries and the region at large.”
President Mnangagwa is on record saying the rail facility will increase trade between Zimbabwe and Mozambique exponentially.
“Zimbabwe is a landlocked or land-linked country and continues to benefit from the use of Mozambican ports, railways and road infrastructure for the movement of both imports and exports. We thus welcome this important development, as the use of trains and locomotives along the Beira-Machipanda railway line will reduce the transport costs of goods between our two countries and the world beyond.
“We are seeing the philosophy of integration by the SADC region so that together when we build this infrastructure in our respective countries, we are actually increasing trade amongst ourselves, modernising our infrastructure, growing our economies, not in isolation but in partnership. I say to my dear brother, keep on this vision; it is not for the benefit of Mozambicans, but for the benefit of our region SADC,” said the President during the Beira-Machipanda railway line commissioning.
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