Maputo, 18 Jan (AIM) – The Mozambican Minister of Public Works, Carlos Mesquita, on Wednesday announced the construction of a temporary bridge between the Tete city and the town of Moatize, in central region of the country, in order to relieve the pressure of heavy goods traffic over the Samora Machel suspension bridge that crosses the Zambezi in Tete.
According to the minister, cited in the Maputo daily “Notícias”, the bridge, to be installed over the Revúbuè river, a major tributary of the Zambezi, will be identical to the one over the Save river, linking Inhambane and Sofala provinces.
“In a month’s time, we’re going to start laying the transitional bridge at Revúbuè and then we’ll mobilize resources to build a permanent one to replace the one damaged by Tropical Depression Ana”, he explained.
It means, according to Mesquita, that the idea of reinforcing the pillars of the current bridge, where only pedestrians and motorbikes are currently circulating, will be postponed because a definitive infrastructure will be built, costing between 28 and 29 million dollars.
Traffic is now flowing across the Samora Machel bridge, after several days in which the bridge was closed (except to pedestrians) to allow repairs to the anchor of one of the cables.
The damage had been caused by overloaded trucks, and Mesquita announced that the condition of the bridge, which is over 50 years old, will now be checked every other day.
(AIM)
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