Maputo, Aug. 13, 2025 (Lusa) - The Mozambican prime minister acknowledged on Wednesday that 154 billion meticais (€2.056 billion) are needed by 2029 for the construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of bridges and roads, which is a "major challenge" in the current economic climate.
"By choosing road infrastructure as one of our priorities, we intend to ensure sustainable and balanced territorial development, ensuring inclusion and equity in access to public services and effective territorial organisation," said Benvinda Levi, after swearing in Paulo Fumane as the new president of the National Road Administration (ANE) in Maputo.
In this regard, she added that "it is one of the priorities" of government action "to ensure the construction, maintenance, rehabilitation and expansion of road infrastructure," as provided for in the Five-Year Government Programme (PQG) until 2029, approved in May by parliament.
"In order to implement the actions provided for in the PQG 2025-2029 in the area of roads and bridges, it is estimated that an investment of around 154 billion meticais will be necessary, which represents a major challenge in view of the current domestic and international situation," acknowledged the prime minister, who asked the new president of ANE to "invest in bold actions to ensure and implement strategic road and bridge projects," in a context where it is necessary to "make rational use of the few resources" available.
"In addition, they should improve the mechanisms for coordination and articulation with the different stakeholders, including the private sector and development partners, to capitalise on all initiatives that enable the raising of resources for the improvement of our road network in the country," she pointed out.
At the same ceremony, the prime minister also swore in the new president of the Maputo Metropolitan Transport Agency, Fernando Andela, noting that since the current government took office in January, "measures and actions have been developed to strengthen and improve public passenger transport" in the capital "in order to ensure greater comfort, safety and fluidity in the movement of people and goods."
Among other actions underway, she highlighted the "introduction of articulated buses, the integrated modal system that combines rail services with buses," the improvement of the road network and the increase in train capacity and frequency.
"Despite these and other actions underway, we are aware of the difficulties that residents of the Maputo metropolitan area still face in terms of access to transport, especially during rush hour, when demand continues to be significantly higher than the supply of this service," she said, asking the new president of that agency to "be creative and innovative in improving the mechanisms for coordination and articulation with local councils" in the planning, management and coordination of the public passenger transport system in the Greater Maputo region.
"We believe that this strategic approach will help public and private urban passenger transport operators to operate in a more structured and predictable manner, enabling them to meet standards such as regular timetables, comfort and road safety," she said. She also recommended the implementation of "reforms to improve the effectiveness of the resources that the Government has been allocating to the public passenger transport system in order to increase the supply and quality of services provided to citizens".
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