This regional initiative promises to boost trade and economic development in the region, particularly in the mining and transportation sectors.
It would allow the development of major coal reserves in landlocked Botswana and their transportation through Zimbabwe to ports in Mozambique.
Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Botswana are collaborating on a major infrastructure project that includes upgrading the Beira-Zimbabwe-Botswana railway system and constructing a new deep-water mineral port in southern Mozambique.
The project aims to facilitate the transportation of Botswana's vast coal reserves, with the new port serving as a key export hub. The railway line will extend into central Botswana, connecting to existing infrastructure in Zimbabwe.
“We are working with our brothers in Zimbabwe so that we can link the Machipanda line to Zimbabwe,” said Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, adding that further discussions between the three countries involved will take place “in the coming weeks.”
Mozambique has already completed the upgrade of the Beira-Machipanda line, and work has begun on a 10-kilometre extension to Mutare in Zimbabwe. Discussions are underway to further connect the railway network across the three countries.
“The proposal has been there for some time to make the linkage. In fact, the idea is to link the region through Zimbabwe. As you know, Zimbabwe and Botswana railways have been linked and worked together in the past; the same arrangement was there between Mozambique and Zimbabwe,” the Zimbabwean Ambassador to Mozambique said.
The tripartite project also includes the development of the deepwater port in Matutuine, Mozambique.
While plans for such a port have existed for decades, the project is expected to be finalized through a tripartite agreement signed this week.
The port would facilitate the transportation of coal reserves from landlocked Botswana through Zimbabwe to ports in Mozambique.
