Mozambique: Government to sign $110M Dondo dry port construction contract in March

Mozambique plans to sign the concession contract for the construction of the Dondo dry port in the centre of the country in March, with an estimated investment volume of US$110 million. “The concession contract will be signed within a week or two at the latest. Work is expected to begin approximately one year after the contract is signed and to be completed in about two years.

Thirty months is the generally agreed time frame for the port to start operating,” said Fernando Ouana, national director of logistics, on Sunday in Sofala. According to the official, construction of the infrastructure in the district of Dondo, Sofala province, is scheduled to start next year, as twelve months is the time needed to finalise the financing and start the works. “The total area of the dry port is 200 hectares, but the initial phase of development will cover around 115 hectares.

It is expected to handle around five million tonnes of goods per year in the initial phase, with potential for higher volumes later,” he explained. According to Fernando Ouana, the investment volume for the construction of this port is estimated at around US$110 million, financed through a public-private partnership by the companies Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM), Union Port Link, and the Business Councils of Beira and the Dondo district. “The biggest gain from the construction of the port will be to relieve the city of Beira from its current congestion due to the situation at the Port of Beira.

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Above all, it will also increase the efficiency of the Port of Beira, reducing constraints, which will allow for higher cargo volumes and shorten the extremely long waiting times for ships at the bar,” he said. According to Ouana, public consultations on the project are now in the final stages, and environmental impact studies will also be completed shortly. On 11 November, the Mozambican government announced that it will grant a concession for the construction and operation of the Dondo dry port under a public-private partnership to reduce congestion and stimulate development in the region.

The information was released by the spokesperson for the 11 November cabinet session, Salim Valá, who is also Minister of Planning and Development, at the end of a meeting, adding that the government had approved the resolution determining that this infrastructure will be implemented through a public-private partnership. According to the government, the Dondo dry port, which will operate as integrated infrastructure with the Port of Beira, is expected to expand the capacity of the Port of Beira, reduce traffic congestion in the port and city of Beira, and stimulate economic development, with an emphasis on the Dondo area. In February 2025, Mozambique’s Ministry of Transport and Logistics announced that studies were underway to address lorry congestion at the city’s port, one of the most important in the country. In August, Cornelder, the concessionaire of the Port of Beira, planned to invest US$8.6 million (640 million meticais) in modernising and expanding the infrastructure and purchasing new equipment.

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