New Bridge Over The Save Ready In June
Maputo, 26 Dec (AIM) – Work on building a new bridge over the Save River, which marks the conventional boundary between southern and central Mozambique, should be completed by June, according to the Minister of Public Works, Carlos Mesquita, cited in Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.
The project includes the rehabilitation of the old bridge, while the new one is being completed. Currently the new bridge is about 98 per cent complete.
The new bridge is one kilometre long and seven metres wide. It has two carriageways and carries the country’s main north-south highway (EN1) across the Save river. There will be a weight limit of 48 tonnes.
The bridge was designed with technology intended to be resilient to the storms caused by climate change.
Taken together, building the new bridge and rehabilitating the old one are budgeted at 98.3 million dollars. The work began in late 2018, and should have ended in 2020. This did not happen, partly because the money ran out, and partly because of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The contractor is the China Roads and Bridges Corporation (CRBC), the same Chinese company that built the suspension bridge over the Bay of Maputo.
On a visit to the two bridges, Mesquita said it was urgent to complete the work in order to ensure that people and vehicles can cross the river safely.
The existing bridge is over 50 years old, and the government warns that it is no longer safe. It was designed in the 1960s, and was inaugurated in September 1972. It is an 810 metre long suspension bridge, which carried between 240 and 300 vehicles a day, mostly heavy trucks.
Lack of regular maintenance led to a decision to impose a weight limit of 45 tonnes. Until the new bridge is ready, these vehicles cross a metallic structure over the river in single file.
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