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Freeman Razemba–Senior Reporter
Zimbabwe and Mozambique have jointly started to refurbish and extend the 10km railway line that stretches from Machipanda to Mutare following bilateral meetings between the two countries.
This comes after Mozambique’s Transport and Communications Minister Mr Mateus Magala visited the country in January to hold bilateral meetings with Zimbabwean Transport Minister Felix Mhona on cooperation in infrastructure development.
His visit came after President Mnangagwa joined his Mozambican counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi, in witnessing the commissioning of the rehabilitated US$200 million Beira-Machipanda railway line last November.
National Railways of Zimbabwe public affairs and stakeholder relations manager Mr Andrew Kunambura yesterday confirmed that the upgrade had now started.
“The work involves refurbishing the entire railway line. We are replacing 3 000 slippers on the line and we are replacing worn out rail particularly on the curves so that they can be a smooth flow of traffic from both Machipanda to Mutare and vice versa.
“We have hired 21 extra track workers to help the 19 that we already have. According to our work study, 40 employees will be doing the work and we anticipate this work to end within the next 49 days and so far progress has been very good.
“The Mozambican side has been completed and we are now moving into the Zimbabwean side,” he said.
Speaking at the commissioning of the railway line in Manica, Mozambique, in November last year, President Mnangagwa said not only will the rehabilitated 318km railway line reduce transport costs, but it will also ease congestion at Forbes Border Post in Mutare.
In January this year, the two Transport ministers toured Forbes and Machipanda Border Posts. After the tour, Minister Magala said: “We had an opportunity to discuss and agree on major issues that we need to address in order to have efficient, modern and progressive infrastructure that facilitates trade and integration of our countries. We basically want to open borderless countries because Zimbabwe and Mozambique have a unique history.
“I am very happy that we managed to agree on what we need to do and stressed the urgency of those actions. One of them is that in next three months, we want to see the railway line from Machipanda to Mutare operational at highest standards.
“The second thing is that we want to see the train from Beira to Harare and beyond also happening very soon.”
Online Reporter