
Maputo, 7 Sep (AIM) – Ossufo Momade, the leader and presidential candidate of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, has called for the construction of a new rail line running from north to south of the country.
Speaking at an election rally in Marrupa, in the northern province of Niassa, Momade said that such a new line would relieve the pressure on the country’s main north-south highway (EN1).
“We shall build a new railway to end congestion on EN1 and to guarantee security and better circulation of people and goods. I shall do this as soon as I am elected to the Presidency”, he promised.
Momade spoke as if a north-south rail line was a Renamo idea – but in fact the current government has repeatedly mentioned the possibility of building the line.
Mozambique has three major rail networks, but they all run from the coast to the countries of the interior, and they are not interconnected.
The oldest is the southern network which connects the port of Maputo to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Eswatini. The central rail system runs from the port of Beira to Zimbabwe, with a spur to Malawi. Finally, the northern railway runs from the deep water port of Nacala to Malawi, and traffic from Zambia can also join this line.
All three networks were built to serve the interests of neighbouring states rather than of Mozambique itself. Hence there is no way that traffic can be moved from northern to southern Mozambique by rail. It must all go by road, with all the damaging environmental consequences that this implies,
A north-south railway might be highly desirable but it would also be extremely expensive. Momade did not suggest how the proposed railway might be paid for, or how long it would take to build.
Failure to cost proposals is a recurrent feature of this election campaign. The candidates make a wide range of promises that, if elected, they will dramatically improve the lives of citizens – but they do not suggest where the money for such improvements will come from.
There are calls to revive long-paralysed industries, notably from Daniel Chapo, the presidential candidate of the ruling Frelimo Party. While campaigning in the central province of Manica, he promised that Frelimo will revive Textafrica, a textile mill that was once the largest factory in the country.
Textafrica ceased its operations in 2002. Subsequent governments have occasionally talked of reopening it – but no investors have come forward with the required funds,
The factory is a shell, and after it stopped production, all its remaining assets were handed over to Millennium-BIM, the country’s largest commercial bank, as a guaranteed on a bank loan.
Reviving Textafrica, would require importing brand new machinery, and training a new work force. The closure of Textafrica resulted in the dismissal of over 3,000 workers, but by now, most of these workers will be past retirement age.
None of the four presidential candidates in these elections say whether any studies have been undertaken into the feasibility of their promises.
(AIM)
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