Mozambique: All systems go as MPDC readies record-breaking jetty in major boost for tourism on iconic island

Construction of the jetty on Inhaca Island, Maputo, considered the largest of its kind in the world, has reached 99%, with its opening to the public scheduled for Friday. “The project is 99% complete. This week we are only making the final adjustments,” Narciso Chipole, Engineering Director at the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC), the concessionaire of the Maputo port and the main financier of the project, told the press on Sunday .

Presenting the current stage of the infrastructure during a site visit to the works — launched in November 2024 with an investment estimated at around 13.5 million US dollars — Chipole said that work is now under way on treating the bridge’s expansion joints. “We are carrying out these fine-tuning works so that from Friday the jetty will be open to the public,” he noted. The structure is a jetty nearly one kilometre in length, with road and pedestrian access of approximately 353 metres, and four access stairways.

In November, Lusa reported that construction of what is described as the largest jetty in the world on Maputo Island had reached 50% overall, employing 140 Mozambicans. At the time, a source from the Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) told Lusa that overall progress had reached 50%. In the maritime works, the driving of 225 casing piles for the pillars had been completed, while concreting was under way, alongside load capacity testing.

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The project is being carried out by the Chinese state-owned company China Road and Bridge Corporation. Located at the entrance to Maputo Bay, in southern Mozambique, Inhaca is one of the Maputo province’s main tourist destinations. However, the link between the island and the city is inadequate, due to the limited availability of maritime transport and docking conditions.

READ:Mozambique: President lays foundation stone of world’s longest jetty On 1 November 2024, at the launch of the project, the then President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, stated in Inhaca that construction of the jetty was valued at 13.5 million US dollars and would boost tourism, trade and research, stressing that it would be the “largest jetty in the world” in terms of length. According to previous information from MPDC, the project represents “a qualitative leap compared to the old infrastructure, which was only 120 metres long” and was in an advanced state of deterioration, having been closed in 2013.

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