Port of Macuse – Mozambique

Seventy-three families living in the Supinho region of Quelimane district in Zambézia province are in the process of being transferred to make way for the construction of the Macuse Deep Water Port, which will be used to export coal from Tete.In order to safeguard against potential future conflicts involving stakeholders, the resettlement process of these families is being preceded by four public consultation sessions.

Mamede Latif, executive director of Thai Mozambique Logistic (TMZ), told Notícias that the first two public consultation sessions involving the local community, the company and the provincial government of Zambézia were held last week in the Supinho region, where the infrastructure is to be built.

Latif did not specify the overall amount to be spent on the resettlement operation, but said that a detailed assessment would be made under the law to determine the actual amounts to be paid to each affected family, so as to safeguard their continuity of life in the resettlement sites.Apart from the 73 families, 10 hectares of fields belonging to the Supinho communities will be affected by the project. Latif said that the survey of home improvements in the places where the project will be implemented starts on May 20.

A concession agreement for the implementation of the project has been signed between the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Thai Mozambique Logistic company, and the laying of the first stone took place last year.In addition to the Port of Macuse, the project includes the construction of a 600-kilometre railway line linking the port to the coal-mining area of Chitima in Tete province. The new railway line will carry 25 million tonnes per year from 2022 to 2028, and, in the second phase, 40 million tonnes per year from 2029 on.The construction of the port will take place in several stages, including the preparation and levelling of the construction site, the establishment of offices and temporary road works, building the berth itself, laying the foundations for and installing goods handling equipment and dredging the access channel.Once completed, the port will stimulate national and foreign entrepreneurs to explore the Zambezia Development Corridor (CODIZA), linking Quelimane-Nicoadala-Namacurra-Mocuba-Milange and hinterland countries. The Mocuba-Milange road, more than 200 kilometres long, is in the final phase of being asphalted, raising expectations of development in Zambézia.