The Mozambican government has announced plans to extend the concession from the port of Beira in Sofala province to Dutch-led consortium Cornelder for another 10 years.
Cabinet spokesperson Ana Comoana is quoted by private television station STV as saying the government has instructed Industry and Commerce Minister Ragendra de Sousa to coordinate negotiations with the concessionaire to define the terms and conditions of the extension.
According to Comoana, the extension of the concession should present an investment plan to increase the installed capacity of multi-purpose container terminals, currently estimated at 700,000 containers per year.
She said the extension of the concession, besides increasing the cargo capacity, would include the need to modernize the cargo terminal and raise the financial contribution of the infrastructure to the state coffers.
“The specific terms and conditions will still be negotiated,” she said.
Privately held Cornelder, which was appointed by the state-run Ports and Railways of Mozambique (CFM) in 1998 to manage the port, plans to spend at least US$400 million over the next five years to boost productivity and throughput, as well as construction of a new fertiliser terminal and upgrades to roads and equipment at port.
The concession is a consortium formed by CFM, Dutch firm Cornelder Holdings and other private investors.
Beira has long been used to transport goods from landlocked Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia, but recently also started moving coal found in Mozambique’s northern Tete province.
Source: Journal du Cameroun
