The last landmines and unexploded ordnance blocking Mozambique’s vital Sena railway line have been removed, thanks largely to about $13-million in United States aid, the US State Department said on Tuesday.
The humanitarian mine action assistance launched in 2002 ”has saved lives, created jobs, encouraged more than $104-million in World Bank loans, and boosted Mozambique’s economic recovery along segments of the line that were cleared earlier in the project, the State Department said.
Under the US Humanitarian Mine Action Programme, approximately $46-million have been given in aid to Mozambique since 1993.
The 670km Sena Railway connects Beira, Mozambique’s main seaport, to its resource-rich interior.
Before the railway line was damaged and mined by Renamo insurgents in 1984, it carried 2,4-million tonnes of freight annually and several hundred passengers daily, the State Department said.
After it was sabotaged, not one train used it for more than 20 years.
The government of Mozambique calculates that when fully operational, the railway will enable the country to tap a potential of 10-million tonnes of high-grade coal annually, and to exploit its other valuable resources such as gold, copper, and diamonds.
Mozambique’s agricultural sector, which once employed tens of thousands, should also recover.
Clearance of mines and unexploded ordnance on one section of the Sena Railway has already led to the re-building of a concrete plant employing more than 500 workers.
Jobs for 2 000 workers are projected on the rail line itself. – Sapa-AFP