Skip to main content

Louis Berger wins Mozambique N303 road upgrade consultancy deal

Infrastructure consultancy Louis Berger is to provide services worth US$7.6 million for the rehabilitation of Mozambique’s National Road N303. The Sub-Saharan Regional Pipeline Corporation awarded the contract for work on the 350km narrow and unpaved carriageway that crosses Tete province. SSRPC is investing $350 million to upgrade the road that starts at the Zambezi River, where Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe have a common border. The modernised road will be the shortest link to a railway under constructi
February 19, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Louis Berger is assisting with the modernization of the 350-kilometer-long, narrow and unpaved carriageway that crosses the Tete province in Mozambique.
Infrastructure consultancy Louis Berger is to provide services worth US$7.6 million for the rehabilitation of Mozambique’s National Road N303.

The Sub-Saharan Regional Pipeline Corporation awarded the contract for work on the 350km narrow and unpaved carriageway that crosses Tete province. SSRPC is investing $350 million to upgrade the road that starts at the Zambezi River, where Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe have a common border.

The modernised road will be the shortest link to a railway under construction between the coal-rich province of Tete and the northern port of Nacala Porto, the deepest port in southern Africa. The road will offer a more cost-effective transportation solution, importantly for mineral resources, particularly copper exports.

Nacala is also the nearest port for landlocked Malawi, which is connected by a 960km railway line.

The overall project will widen the road and reinforce highway structures. Specific improvements will include alignment, pavement and signage design; drainage and ancillary works; as well as the rehabilitation of 19 bridges. Louis Berger will provide design services for the development of feasibility, environmental and social impact assessment and resettlement studies.

SSRPC is completing the work under a type of public-private partnership with the government of Mozambique’s National Roads Directorate.

“The rehabilitation of the N303 is vital not only for Mozambique but for the region as a whole,” said Jean-Pierre Dupacq, head of Louis Berger’s operations in Africa. “The modernised road will greatly boost the local economy, which is mainly dependent on coal mining, by allowing the development of local small-scale enterprises along the road.”

Upgrading the N303 comes just as the government opened a new $1 billion port and coal terminal across the deepwater Nacala Bay, opposite Nacala Porto. The port, called Nacala a Velha, will in its first phase have an annual handling capacity of 14.5 million tonnes of coal delivered from the mines in the Moatize coal basin in Tete province.

Louis Berger has been working for 25 years in Mozambique, where the firm said it has implemented around 50 projects. The public and private sector-funded contracts cover a range of professional services in transport, environment, water and sanitation, agriculture, power, telecommunications and health.

Related Content

  • East Africa’s dream of a ‘Silk Road’ in sight
    October 22, 2021
    East Africa’s dream of a ‘Silk Road’ route to boost trade and transport is now in sight
  • Funding for Malawi-Zambia road link
    December 10, 2013
    Extra funding will help improve the road link connecting Malawi and Zambia. The African Development Fund (ADF) is providing a loan worth US$73.6 million for the fourth phase of the Multinational Nacala Road Corridor Development project. This route connects Malawi and Zambia and is of major economic importance to both nations, but particularly for Malawi as its transport connections with its neighbours are not well developed. The ADF is providing loans of $7.7 million to Zambia and a loan of $65 million to M
  • Sourcing road financing for East Africa’s network expansion
    December 4, 2015
    East Africa’s ambitious road expansion programme is seeing the network expand significantly – Shem Oirere writes The East Africa countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda have announced ambitious road sector expansion plans in the 2015/16 financial year. This is despite their national budgets being weighed down by huge deficits and persisting lack of capacity to spend resources allocated to the sector in previous years. With the huge budget deficits, the countries will have to look for alternati
  • Planned maintenance works will improve Mozambique roads
    July 8, 2013
    A programme of road maintenance and general upgrades will improve road links in Mozambique’s Tete Province. The scheme will see work worth around US$187 million carried out on some 700km of roads by Estradas do Zambeze. The company has a 30 year concession deal for the roads in Tete Province.