Maputo — The deadline for concluding the reconstruction of the Sena railway line, linking the central Mozambican port of Beira to the Moatize coal basin in Tete province, has been extended yet again, this time from December to the end of January.
According to the director of the Sena Line Reconstruction Brigade, Candido Jone, cited in Friday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", work on the line is now going at a "very bad" pace, sometimes coming to a halt for days at a time, because the contractor, the Indian consortium Rites and Ircon International (RICON), has run out of material.
The main problems are the shortage of concrete sleepers and the delay in supply trains reaching the work front.
The Sena line is 574 kilometres long, and there are just 32 kilometres left before the reconstruction reaches Moatize. But there has been a drastic slowdown in recent weeks. Since the last week of October, only 22 kilometres of track has been relaid, instead of the target of 1,400 metres a day.
Jone said that the production of reinforced concrete sleepers in factories in the towns of Dondo and Sena has fallen because of a shortage of steel. Only this week did supplies of steel for the two factories arrive at Beira port on a ship from India.
Once the line does reach Moatize, that is far from the end of the job. Putting the finishing touches to track alignment, the drainage system and the rehabilitation of some of the bridges could continue throughout 2010, said Jone.
The Sena line was completely paralysed for 26 years, due to sabotage by the apartheid-back Renamo rebels in the early 1980s. The reconstruction has allowed the line to reopen to passenger trains between Beira and the Dona Ana bridge over the Zambezi. In addition the branch line to the sugar town of Marromeu has also reopened.
But the publicly owned ports and rail company, CFM, is less than happy with RICON's performance. Jone says the contractor was told to rebuild the stations, provide houses for the rail workers, and a water supply and sanitation system by 15 December.
But so far none of this has been done, he added, even though 2.5 million dollars was available.
"The stations have not been rehabilitated, there are no shelters for the passengers, and there are no decent working conditions for the staff", protested Jone.
Source:allafrica.com/
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