Maputo, Mozambique, 28 Oct – The new bridge over the Lugela river, linking the Mozambican districts of Mocuba and Lugela, in Mozambique’s Zambézia province, was officially inaugurated Thursday by Mozambique’s president.

The government’s decision after the bridge was destroyed in flooding in 1998 was to build an alternative bridge across one of the Lugela’s tributaries, but this bridge was also destroyed by flooding in 2001.

The new bridge cost 191 million meticais (around US$7.6 million) and was funded by the State Budget. It was built by a consortium of POrtugeuse companies, Construtora do Tâmega and Conduril – Construtora Duriense.

The bridge is 270 metres long and has two lanes, and links the districts of Mocuba and Lugela, preventing travellers from making a 100-kilometre detour.

The managing director of the Natinal Roads Institute, Eusébio Siquela told Mozambican news agency AIM that the new bridge was 1 metre higher than the highest level of water ever recorded in floods of the Lugela river. (macauhub)