Mozambique Railroad Project Delayed Until March
Conclusion of reconstruction work on the Sena railroad in Mozambique, particularly in the critical areas of its 575 kilometer length, has been delayed until next March after initially being scheduled for December 2012.
The state-run Mozambique daily newspaper Noticias reported on Monday quoting the director of the Sena Railroad Reconstruction Team, Sancho Junior saying the delay was due to a lack of available ballast.
He said quarries in Siluvo, in Sofala province, and Moatize, in Tete province, were unable to supply the necessary amounts of stone on which to lay the sleepers for the track.
The amount of ballast needed was estimated last April at 64,000 cubic meters, but since then just 15,000 cubic meters have been laid.
Reconstruction work is budgeted to cost $45 million and is being carried out by Portuguese construction companies Mota-Engil and Edivisa (of the Visabeira group).
The work is intended to improve the line to allow passenger and cargo traffic to increase, particularly coal mined at Moatize carried to the port of Beira.
The work is being finished by Mozambican state port and rail management company Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique after work by Indian consortium Ricon was found to be deficient.
The work includes reconstruction of the Beira-Dondo section of the railway, relaying the track and ballast between Savane and Moatize, as well as building and/or increasing crossings at stations.
Following the work the capacity of the Sena railroad is expected to increase from 2-3 million tons now to a total of 6 million tons.
The line is a key infrastructure to rail several millions tons of coal from Tete where Brazil’s mining giant, Vale and Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto are pouring billions of dollars to tap vast coal deposits in Tete’s Moatize District.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
Category: Africa
