Construction work on a cement plant in Mozambique’s Niassa province will begin this year, the Mozambican President said on Thursday, adding that the project was part of the government’s actions “to take this part of the north of the country out of apparent oblivion.”

Filipe Nyusi, who was speaking in Lichinga, the provincial capital, in a rally to mark 7 September, the day of the signing of the Lusaka Agreements, said that the future cement factory will source a large amount of raw material in the province itself, including limestone and clay.

“We will not feel comfortable while the dream of industrialising and developing Niassa is not realized,” Nyusi said cited by Mozambican news agency AIM.

The Mozambican President recalled that the railway line linking the province to the rest of the country had been reopened, and gave assurances that the road between Cuamba and Lichinga, work on which is already underway, will be completed and that road construction will be resumed on the road to Montepuez (Cabo Delgado province).

The Lusaka Agreements signed between Portugal and the Mozambican Liberation Front put an end to colonial rule and paved the way for the country’s independence on 25 June, 1975. (macauhub)