The future railway line between Moatize and Macuse in central Mozambique’s Tete and Zambézia provinces will be 120 km longer than originally planned, following a proposal from mining companies, said the head of Thai Moçambique Logística, the company awarded the concession for the infrastructure.

Abdul Carimo told the Maputo-based daily Notícias that the expansion would enable the line to reach the Chitima region in Tete, where some mining companies interested in using the future railway line operate.

The original plan envisaged that the Moatize/Macuse railway line would be 575 km long and serve to transport coal mined in Moatize to the deepwater port to be built at Macuse in Zambezia province.

Banks have supported the idea to expand the railway line and will grant the credit needed to carry out the work, which is due to begin in 2018, Carimo told the newspaper.

The line will be built by a consortium comprising Portugal’s Mota-Engil construction group and the China Complete Engineering Corporation, a subsidiary of the China Machinery Engineering Corporation group, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The 44-month contract involves a cost of US$2.389 billion.

Thai Moçambique Logística groups Thailand’s Italthai Industrial Company Limited, with a 60 percent stake, Mozambique’s state-owned Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM), with 20 percent, and the Corredor de Desenvolvimento da Zambézia business group (Codiza), also with 20 percent. It will be in direct competition with the historic Sena line linking Tete to the port of Beira in Sofala province and with the Nacala Corridor linking the Moatize region to the deepwater port at Nacala-a-Velha in Nampula province. (Macauhub)