[2019-10-17] Italthai Engineering railway port project moves ahead in Mozambique

Source: Macauhub

The foundation stone for the construction of the housing village for people currently living in the future area of the port of Macuse was laid on Wednesday in Sopinho, Quelimane district, Zambezia province, according to Mozambican press reports.

The president of Thai Mozambique Logistic, Orlando Marques, announced at the ceremony that 63 houses will be built in the village, a health centre, a small water supply system, power grid extension, roads, boreholes, a market, and playgrounds.

Orlando Marques also said that the work is scheduled to be completed within two years and that the costs will be known only after the construction of the model house, which should happen within the next few days.

In 2013 the Government of Mozambique awarded to Thai Italthai Engineering (which owns 60% of Thai Mozambique Logistics) the concession (construction, operation and other operations) of the port and railway of Macuse, 35 kilometres north of Quelimane, the capital of the central province of Zambézia.

The 620-kilometre railway connecting Macuse to the Moatize and Chitima mines is estimated to cost US$2 billion and is designed to allow coal to be carried from Tete province in the interior of Mozambique.

Macuse’s deep-water port will be able to accommodate large draft ships that will mainly transport coal and serve landlocked countries bordering Mozambique.

The US$2.40 billion project will be carried out by a consortium of the China Machinery Engineering Corporation and Mota-Engil, and is expected to be completed in 2021, according to information released in August 2018.