Repair work on the Samora Machel bridge over the Zambezi river, in the western Mozambican city of Tete, has run into further delays, and will not be completed by 31 December as hoped, reports Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.Initially the work should have finished by July, but was extended to December. Now the contractor says the repairs will not be complete until the middle of the first quarter of 2011. The delay is blamed on “technical and organizational problems”, plus work accidents, and sabotage by some motorists, who are accused of destroying some material intended for the rehabilitation.The major task of replacing all the suspension cables that hold the bridge up has been completed, but Pearash Chandra, the chief inspector of the company GRID (Consultancies, Studies and Engineering Projects Limited), hired to inspect the job, admitted that other work would continue into the first quarter of 2011.The bridge is not closed to traffic, but the work means that restrictions are in place. Traffic goes one way over the bridge for half an hour, then vehicles traveling in the other direction are let through for the next 30 minutes. This causes delays for the 600 to 800 heavy trucks a day that cross the Zambezi at Tete. Some are carrying equipment for the major coal mining projects in Moatize district, while others are destined for neighbouring countries, such as Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia.The total cost of the repairs are put at 980 million meticais (about 27.5 million US dollars, at current exchange rates), financed entirely by the Mozambican government. The work began in March 2009, and was initially scheduled to last no more than 18 months.
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