Mozambique: CFM Offers to Rebuild Railway Inside Malawi

Mozambique's publicly owned ports and railway company, CFM, has offered to rehabilitate the railway from the Malawian city of Blantyre to Vila Nova de Fronteira on the Malawi/Mozambique border, according to a report in Monday's issue of the Malawian "Daily Times".

According to the paper, the chairperson of the CFM board, Rui Fonseca, revealed this offer publicly last week, at a meeting in Beira, marking the tenth anniversary of the lease on Beira port to the Dutch company Cornelder. He said the offer had been made several weeks ago, but CFM is still waiting for a reply from the Malawian authorities.

"We are constructing the 45km stretch of railway from Vila Nova da Fronteira up to Nsanje but we have asked the Malawi Government to let us continue with the 100 kilometres up to Blantyre. As of now, we are still waiting for a response," said Fonseca.

Fonseca said this would cost CFM around 11 million US dollars. CFM was prepared to make such an investment to ensure that Malawian goods could travel directly by rail to the port of Beira.

The entire Sena railway, which links Beira to the Moatize coal basin in Tete province, is being rebuilt - including the spur to Vila Nova de Fronteira. But Malawian traffic cannot use the Sena line unless the railway inside Malawi is also rehabilitated.

Malawi used to be a major user of Beira port. But the apartheid backed Renamo rebels destroyed the Sena line in the early 1980s, and for quarter of a century there was no traffic along the line.

Currently any Malawian goods using Beira must reach the port by road.