Negomano, Mozambique, 13 May – The bridge over Maputo bay linking the capital’s downtown with Catembe municipality, as well as the road to Ponta do Ouro, will be built in this five-year period (2010-2014), Public Works and Housing Minister Cadmiel Muthemba has reiterated.

Muthemba made his comments in Negomano, Cabo Delgado province, where he was taking part in the inauguration of a bridge linking Mozambique and Tanzania, reports the Maputo-based daily Noticias.

Regarding the Catembe bridge and the road to Ponta do Ouro work is under way so that both projects can be finished by 2014, he said.

The government’s aim in these five years is to link the northern and southern ends of Mozambique by land, i.e., to have a paved road from Ponta do Ouro to the Rovuma River in Cabo Delgado province, he added.

Muthemba did not indicate how much would be invested to accomplish the goal of linking Ponta do Ouro to the Rovuma.

In October 2009 the Municipal Council of Maputo city announced that five proposals submitted by preselected bidders were being examined for the second stage of the public tender to build the Catembe bridge and the road to Ponta do Ouro.

The head of the capital’s Municipal Council, David Simango, said at the time that the road and bridge could be build on a leasing basis, in which the winner of the tender to build them bears the cost of the work, agreeing on a period for the state to repay the contracted debt. (macauhub)