The Mozambican government plans to launch an international public tender for a rail and port project worth US$2 billion, the chairman of state port and rail company CFM said Wednesday in Maputo.

“The public tender will be launched by the end of the year, it will be worth US$2 billion and is intended to solve the logistical problems related to increasing coal exports,” said Rosário Mualeia on the sidelines of the Coaltrans conference, cited by financial news agency Reuters.

The public tender is to build a 525 kilometre railroad from Tete province to Macuse, in Zambézia province, and a port with capacity to handle 20 million tons of coal per year.

Mualeia also noted that work to rebuild the Sena railroad, which is the only rail link between Tete and the coast, will be finished by the end of the year, after which it will have capacity to carry 6.5 million tons per year.

The chairman of Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) noted that several rail and port projects due to be carried out would have an overall cost of US$12 billion and be completed within five years. These new projects are expected to increase the country’s export capacity to 120 million tons of coal per year.

Mualeia also said that in 2013 an independent operator would be set up to manage all the railroads, although prices and policy for accessing the network would be established by a state regulator. (macauhub)