‘Long way for Malawi to achieve Nsanje Port dream’

Sales and marketing manager for Cornelder, the terminal operator of the port of Beira in Mozambique, Felix Jaime Machado, has said there is still a long way for Malawians to use the much-touted Nsanje World Inland Port.

Machado in an interview on Wednesday said making large vessels navigable on the Shire-Zambezi Waterway would be a complex exercise.

“The task to make big vessels navigate on rivers is so cumbersome and not easy as the two governments of Malawi and Mozambique put it, there is still a long way to make the dream come true,” Machado told a group of business journalsts on a media tour to Mozambique.

The Malawi Government secured funding from the African Development Bank for a feasibility study on the navigability of the Shire-Zambezi Waterway.

Although Machado did not specify how much it would cost to make river Zambezi and Shire navigable for larger vessels, he indicated that the exercise would be expensive.

He suggested that Malawi should explore the potential of the Nacala Railway line which currently is undergoing rehabilitation.

Once completed, the Nacala corridor will open up Malawi’s direct access to the Sena Corridor which is directly connected to the strategic Beira Port. This is the port through which much of Malawi exports and imports pass through.

Nsanje World Inland Port is a brainchild of former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika who said if put to use, the port would reduce Malawi’s transportation costs by over 40 percent.