Maputo, Mozambique, 24 March – The Mozambican cities of Maputo and Pemba are expected to be linked by road by 2009, according to the program for reconstruction and expansion of National Road No. 1, the president of the Roads Fund, Francisco Pereira said in Maputo.

Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting to assess and review the Integrated Roads Program (Prise), held in Maputo, Pereira said that the link between the two cities was one of the priorities of the road sector program for the 2007-2009 period.

Work on the reconstruction and expansion of the EN1, a project with a budget of some US$1 billion and which is being carried out in phases, has been underway for around three years.

There continue to be problems on the stretch of road linking Namacurra to Alto Molócué in Zambezia province, work on which was due to have been finished according to the tender contract signed with construction company Tâmega.

However, there are guarantees that the EN1 will have be in better condition by the end of next year, when the third phase of Prise is carried out, the start of which is scheduled for this year.

Pereira said that it had not been possible to carry out the program outlined for last year, due to the floods that affected some regions.

The president of the Roads Fund also said that around US$200 million was available for 2007, but due to the emergency program imposed by the floods it had not been possible to apply them, although 800 kilometres of the EN1 had already been asphalted. (macauhub)