The Mozambican Government will launch a public tender to select a new concessionaire for National Road 4 (N4), from Maputo to the Ressano Garcia border with neighbouring South Africa, it was announced yesterday.
The government stated that it reviewed, at the weekly Council of Ministers meeting held in Maputo on Tuesday, the evaluation report of the N4 concession, considered the country’s best road, which had been granted to the South African company Trans African Concessions (TRAC). The commission set up for this purpose indicated that the terms of the contract were being “regularly fulfilled, with objectives achieved throughout the duration of the concession.”
According to the Mozambican executive, the concession contract was signed in 1977, entering into force in January of the following year, with a 30-year term, leaving two years remaining.
“The Government decided to adopt the report of the technical commission, which will guide the next steps to be taken for the launch of the public tender for the selection of the future concessionaire, for the continued development and operation of this road within the context of this project,” said the Cabinet spokesperson, Inocêncio Impissa.
Lusa previously reported that the Ministry of Transport and Logistics of Mozambique had 180 days to propose a solution for the N4 concession. The measure is part of the resolution of 27 June 2025 by the Council of Ministers, which authorised the minister overseeing roads to establish a technical team to evaluate the concession contract for the road, linking Maputo, Witbank, and Pretoria (both in South Africa), over a distance of 600 kilometres concessioned to TRAC, including a section of about 90 kilometres in Mozambique.
The creation of this commission was justified at the time by the need to “ensure transparency in the evaluation process of the concession contract” and to “propose the conditions for its continuation.”
“The technical team is authorised to establish contacts with South African government entities, the concessionaire, and other interested parties, with a view to reviewing the contract, its addenda and annexes, transparently and efficiently, aligned with the public policies and interests of both governments,” states the resolution approved last year.
This technical team is made up of representatives from around ten Mozambican ministries, including the Ministry of Transport and Logistics, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and the Ministry of Finance.
The N4 concessionaire, the main expressway in Mozambique between Maputo and the South African border at Ressano Garcia, admitted in January last year to severe losses due to post-election protests, and that the future of the concession was uncertain.
The road links Tshwane, Gauteng (South Africa) to the port of Maputo, and was built by TRAC under a 30-year concession agreement involving the governments of both countries, with the concessionaire assuming the costs of construction and maintenance, after which the road can revert to the respective states.
According to TRAC, the 1997 N4 concession contract was worth 3,000 million rands (≈€155.1 million at current exchange rates), plus 1,000 million rands (≈€51.7 million) for ongoing improvement and rehabilitation works and routine maintenance at 200,000 rands (≈€10,350) per kilometre, as well as salaries for around 500 employees and financing of local community projects in both Mozambique and South Africa.
Source: Lusa
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