MAPUTO: The provincial director for Transport and Communications in western Mozambique province Tete, Romeo Sandoca has said trains loaded with coal which will link Moatize, in that mineral-rich region to the port of Nacala, in Nampula province should start circulating soon and in the first quarter for international shipments, APA learnt Monday.
The official was quoted by state-controlled Radio Mozambique as saying everything was in place for the start of the transport of coal mined in the province, given that the railway line is fit for the purpose, having been inspected and tested in November, when the first shipment of coal was carried to the port of Nacala.
Inspection and testing of the railway was conducted with a train made up of four locomotives pulling 120 wagons, which ran without incident over the 902-kilometre route to Nacala.
This railroad, which runs through neighbouring Malawi, was built by global mining company Vale Moçambique, a subsidiary of Brazilian group Vale, in order to increase coal transport capacity. Coal is currently carried to the port of Beira along the Sena railroad over a distance of 570 kilometres.
Sandoca added that the new railway line would also be used by other mining companies to carry their products, and Mozambican port and rail company Portos e Caminhos-de-Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) will carry passengers and cargo.
In addition to Vale Moçambique Indian consortium International Coal Ventures Private Limited (which acquired the coal assets of Rio Tinto) and Jindal Africa, a subsidiary of Indian group Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) also mine and export coal in Tete.
The first two companies have concessions in the Moatize district, and the third company is active in the new district of Marara, which was previously part of the Changara district.
