Nyusi reopens Cuamba-Lichinga railway

18 Nov, 2016 - 00:11 0 Views
Nyusi reopens Cuamba-Lichinga railway

The ManicaPost

President Filipe Nyusi declared on 3 November that the railway from Cuamba to Lichinga, the two main urban centres in the northernmost province of Niassa, will raise the socio-economic development of that province, and of the whole northern region of the country.

He was speaking at Lichinga station, at the ceremony to re-inaugurate the line. The 262 km long line is essentially a spur off the northern rail corridor that runs from the port of Nacala to Entre-Lagos on the border with Malawi.

The line was built in 1972, but the Portuguese engineers cut corners, by using lightweight rails and timber sleepers. The line was thus always fragile and liable to suffer derailments. Nonetheless, it was a vital lifeline for Niassa which allowed fuel and other basic commodities to reach Lichinga from Nacala at a reasonable price.

In the 1980s, during the war of destabilization, the line came to a complete standstill. The rehabilitation of the northern corridor in that decade only rebuilt the line from Nacala to Cuamba, completely ignoring both the final 77 km to the Malawian border, and the spur to Lichinga.

After the war, the private-led consortium CDN (Northern Development Corridor), that held the lease on the Nacala port and rail system, sent trains sporadically to Lichinga. But the line was in such poor condition that, even under relatively good conditions in the dry season it took three days for a train to make the journey from Cuamba to Lichinga. In 2010 traffic on the line was suspended altogether, and complete reconstruction of the line began in 2014.

President Nyusi told the crowd that, with the reopening of the line, “there is one less reason for Niassa to remain unknown and forgotten”.

With regular trains travelling from Lichinga southwards, he said the rest of the country could now enjoy “the unequalled beans and the best potatoes” produced in Niassa. With a secure means of transport, investors could now design a competitive solution to mining the coal deposits in Maniamba, and exploit the limestone in Sanga, as well as cash crops grown in Niassa such as soya, sesame and tobacco.

The train would also bring to Niassa fisheries produce from the coast, building materials and cooking gas, added President Nyusi. Rebuilding the railway, he declared, had removed one of the most serious obstacles to the development of the largest province in the country. The journey from Lichinga to Cuamba now takes seven hours rather than three days. President Nyusi and his delegation rode a train for the first 15 kilometres, from Lichinga to Chimbonila, and back again.

The alternative to the railway is a dirt road from Lichinga to Cuamba. The road journey can take slightly less time than the train in the dry season, making the journey in six hours. In the rainy season that rises to between eight and ten hours. Bus companies charge fares of between 500 and 700 meticais (between $6.6 and $9.2), but CDN says the return train fare between Lichinga and Cuamba will be 160 meticais. – AIM.

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