As from 1 September, the entire Beira rail system, in central Mozambique, will be under private management, following consultations last week between the publicly owned port and rail company, CFM, and the Indian consortium that won the tender for operating the system.
The Beira network consists of the line from Beira to Zimbabwe, which is already fully operational, and the Sena line, which runs from Beira to the Moatize coal mines in the western province of Tete, with a spur running into Malawi. This line was comprehensively sabotaged by the apartheid-backed Renamo rebels during the war of destabilisation, and no trains have run on it for 20 years.
Rebuilding the Sena line will be the top priority for the Indian consortium, consisting of the companies Rites Ltd and Ircon International Ltd. A start has already been made by CFM itself: using its own resources, CFM has been rebuilding the 90 kilometres between the towns of Dondo and Muanza.
The Rites/Ircon consortium is to sign two contracts with CFM on 18 June, which will also formalise the creation of the new company that will manage the system. If the new company follows the pattern of the leases for other Mozambican ports and railways, Rites/Ircon will be the largest shareholder, and CFM will hold 33 per cent of the shares.
Representatives of the consortium met in Maputo with CFM officials, between 27 May and 2 June, to discuss the technical aspects of the project, modalities of the disbursement of the funds, and details of the action plan.
They also met with Transport Minister Tomas Salomao last Wednesday to discuss the political aspects of the undertaking.
According to a CFM press release, over the weekend, the consortium representatives visited Beira port to inspect the infrastructures. They also visited the Dona Ana bridge over the Zambeze river, and the work being undertaken by CFM's Sena Line Reconstruction Brigade on the Dondo-Muanza stretch.
The Dona Ana bridge is the longest rail bridge in Africa.
Two spans were blown up (one on either bank of the river) by apartheid saboteurs in 1986. When it was rebuilt in the mid- 1990s, it was planked over and is currently operating as a road bridge.
The reconstruction of the Sena line is budgeted at 175 million US dollars, of which 120 million have been provided by the World Bank. The remainder is to be raised by the Rites/Ircon consortium.
The new leaseholder must not only rebuild the line. It must acquire locomotives and rolling stock, and install communications systems along the line.
The Rites/Ircon consortium will be exempt from the normal fees paid to CFM by leaseholders for the first five years, but it must make an initial payment of two million dollars immediately after signing the contract.
Fonte: AIM
