The Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, said on Monday that about three quarters of the country’s roads are not paved, during the general assembly of the African Road Funds Association.
Of the total of 30,491 kilometers of the classified road network in Mozambique, only “8,244 kilometers, 27%, are paved” and “22,247 kilometers, 73%, are not paved,” said the Head of State, during the opening of the 20th General Assembly of the African Road Maintenance Funds Association (ARMFA).
The meeting, which brings together 35 representatives of African road funds, started on Monday and is expected to run until Wednesday, under the theme “Aligning Sustainable Financing to the Needs of the Road Sector in Africa.
Filipe Nyusi also made mention of the “low density of paved roads on the continent,” noting that about 53% of Africa’s roads are unpaved. “The lack of a road network isolates people from transport corridors, links to commercial centers, access to education and health, as well as economic opportunities,” added the President of Mozambique.
Nyusi also noted that the scenario affects 50 percent of the continent’s rural population, who do not have access to roads, in addition to causing “congestion in urban areas, especially where cross-border corridors converge.”
“These situations derive, to some extent, from the precarious maintenance of existing roads,” the head of state mentioned. During the three-day meeting, the Association of African Road Funds is expected to reflect, among other points, on the prioritization of road maintenance, innovative financing mechanisms for the sector, as well as the development of partnerships for the financing of resilient infrastructures, indicates the Mozambican presidency.