Gôndola, Mozambique, Sept. 30, 2024 (Lusa) - Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, who is not running for re-election in the general elections on 9 October, on Monday promised to inaugurate 54 more infrastructures than planned by the end of his administration.
"Because we are at the end of the second cycle [two five-year terms] I would like to point out here that, in terms of the five-year programme 2022-2024, we have met the target set for building the number of planned bridges and by the end of this cycle of governance we will have increased the number of bridges built by 54 units," said Filipe Nyusi, inaugurating the bridge over the Metuchira River, on National Road 6 (N6), in the district of Gôndola, Manica province.
The bridge, work on which began 10 months ago, is located on the stretch between Beira, in Sofala province, and Machipanda, in Manica, the centre of Mozambique, an important route for landlocked African countries to reach the ports of Beira and Nacala (Nampula province).
Official figures indicate that, on average, around one million vehicles pass along this stretch each year, 50% of which are heavy goods vehicles from inland southern African countries that use Mozambican ports to import and export products.
"The road is an essential vector for the socio-economic development of our country and the southern African region," said the Mozambican head of state.
The infrastructure, implemented as part of the reconstruction after the destruction caused by cyclones Idai in 2019 and Eloise in 2021, cost an additional 310 million meticais ( €4.3 million), financed by the Mozambique Road Network (Revimo), which is responsible for the construction, conservation and operation of several national roads.
"Revimo is not here to make money, but to ensure that the infrastructure works uninterruptedly," emphasised Filipe Nyusi, marking one of the last inaugurations in his 10-year term as Mozambique's head of state.
Mozambique is holding its seventh presidential elections on 9 October, in which Filipe Nyusi, who has reached the constitutional limit of two terms, is no longer running, at the same time as the seventh legislative elections and the fourth for provincial assemblies and governors.
More than 17 million voters are registered to vote, including 333,839 registered abroad, according to figures from the National Electoral Commission.
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