Ressano Garcia: Mozambique modernizes its gateway to South Africa
There are borders that sustain entire regions. Ressano Garcia is one of them. The first land crossing point between Mozambique and South Africa, this border post concentrates a daily flow of people and goods whose magnitude alone says the strategic importance of the Maputo corridor for both economies. It is therefore not surprising that the Mozambican government, under the impetus of President Daniel Chapo, has chosen to make it a priority.
The first stone has been laid. Work to modernize the Ressano Garcia one-stop border post in Maputo province is officially underway for an estimated investment of about 980 million metical’s, or $15.3 million. This budget is calculated to profoundly transform an ageing logistics tool, the inadequacies of which have penalized the competitiveness of cross-border trade for too long.
The project focuses on three complementary areas: the modernization of existing infrastructure, the rehabilitation of the road freight terminal and the development of expressways to improve traffic flow. Three levers which, combined, aim to reduce waiting times, reduce logistics costs and offer economic operators on both sides of the border a transit environment that is finally up to the flow they generate.
The Minister of Transport and Logistics João Jorge Matlombe insisted on the expected benefits for the Maputo corridor, a vital trade artery that connects Mozambican ports to landlocked markets in southern Africa. Improving the flow of Ressano Garcia means making the entire corridor more fluid, reducing the burden on transporters and making Mozambican exports more competitive internationally.
In a region where the battle to attract logistics flows rages between several competing corridors, modernizing one’s transit infrastructure is not a luxury. This is a condition of economic survival that Mozambique has decided to take seriously.
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