Maputo, Mozambique, 11 July – The guidelines for the concession of a further three national roads to private operators and installation of tolls along them will be defined by the end of the year by the Mozambican government, said the chairman of the Roads Fund, Elias Paulo.

According to Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias, the government plans to grant concessions on the Maputo-Maxixe section of National Road 1, as well as National Road 6 linking Beira to Machipanda, on the border with Zimbabwe and National Road 7, which links Vanduzi in Manica province, to Changara in Tete province.

Proposals put forward for pre-qualification, the tender for which was launched last year, are currently being analysed and pre-selected operators will be invited to put forward more detailed proposals.

Alongside preparation of the Maputo-Maxixe, Beira-Machipanda and Vandúzi-Changara roads, the Roads sector is outlining the country’s toll road policy as part of a strategy to extend the benefits of maintenance to other roads, based on levels of traffic.

EN4, which links Maputo to South Africa is the first road in Mozambique to be managed privately and when it was built traffic was expected to total 13,000 vehicles per day, although the figure now stands at 35,000 per day. (macauhub)