A US$175m concession to rehabilitate and operate the 575 km Sena line in Mozambique has been awarded to a consortium comprising Rail India Technical & Economic Services and Ircon International.
The line links the port at Beira with the Moatize coalfields, with a 39 km branch from Vila de Sena to the Malawi border at Vila Nova Fronteira (map p363). A major issue will be the repair of the war-damaged Dona Ana bridge over the Zambezi.
Four consortia were prequalified last year (RG 9.03 p528), but only two submitted final bids. Rites and Ircon were preferred to the Beira Corridor Rail Co, comprising Tianjin-based trading company Tenwin and China Railways Construction Co. The concessionaires must provide US$55m towards the cost, with the remaining US$120m to come from a World Bank loan negotiated by Transport Minister Tomaz Salomao last year.
National railway and ports authority CFM has already allocated US$11m for restoration of 90 km from the junction with the Beira - Machipanda route at Dondo to the limestone quarries at Muanza. CFM reported in March that work had been completed on the first 30 km at a cost of US$7m. The remainder is expected to be finished by the end of this year.
