Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
The Mozambican government has invested about 7.5 million US dollars in the purchase of six new ferry boats for passenger transport in the cities of Maputo, Inhambane, Beira, and Quelimane, reports last Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.
The head of the government’s Transport and Communications Project Management Unit, Sergio Cassamo, said that the boats, expected to arrive in November, were purchased from Bangladesh.
The largest of these boats has a capacity for 250 passengers, 10 light vehicles and four 10 tonne trucks. It will operate on the crossing of the bay between Maputo city and Catembe. A second boat, with a capacity for 80 passengers, will link Maputo to the island of Inhaca.
Links between Beira and Buzi district, in Sofala, and between Quelimane and Recamba, in Zambezia province, will be assured by boats that can carry 80 passengers.
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Another ferry, with a capacity for 60 passengers and two tonnes of cargo will operate between the cities of Inhambane and Maxixe.
Cassamo said that there is an ongoing discussion about the management of these ferry services. Some people think they should be run by the government, while others believe that management should be farmed out to private companies.
The purchase of these boats is part of the government’s approach to minimize the shortage of resources and to promote maritime transport as an alternative to road transport.
The Transport Ministry has warned that it is urgent to replace the existing ferry boats, because they are old and becoming obsolete.
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