The government of Mozambique has inaugurated the Key Niassa Highway. President Filipe Nyusi officially opened the road for use to the public.
The 315 km road passes between two main cities in the northern province, Lichinga and Cuamba. The rebuilt and paved stretch inaugurated (200 km) runs from the provincial capital, Lichinga, to Massangulo, capital of Ngauma district, and on to Muita, The final 115 kilometres will run from Muita to Cuamba.
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Key Niassa Highway
The president affirmed that the road was built to international standards and completed within the scheduled date. The road is vital for Niassa and Nampula provinces, and forms part of a strategic link, via the border at Mandimba, between landlocked Malawi and the port of Nacala.
It is now ten metres wide and on the Lichinga-Massagulo stretch, two new bridges were built, over the Lutembue and Lumbala rivers. Seven bridges were needed on the Massangulo-Mita stretch – over the rivers Ngolua, Naganta (two bridges), Luchima, Lilase, Ninde and Lilumassi.
In the Mandimba municipality, five kilometres of road were tarred to connect the main road with the Malawian border, and a weighbridge was installed. More than 1.914, out of which 90% were locals were employed for the project.
The road project was financed by Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), African Development Bank (ADB) and the Mozambican government. Paving the Lichinga-Massangulo-Muita stretch cost about US $105m, financed by JICA.
Mozambique has among the highest road fatality rates in the world, ranking 165
out of 173 countries with the main risk factor for accidents is poor road surfaces.
