Essar Ports has signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Government of Mozambique to develop a new coal terminal at Beira Port as part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project.
The project will be executed through a subsidiary, New Coal Terminal Beira, SA (NCTB SA), which is a joint venture between Essar (which will own 70%) and Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) (which will own 30%).
“We would like to congratulate the Government of Mozambique for this initiative and for partnering with Essar on such a prestigious national-level project,” said Rajiv Agarwal, CEO and managing director, Essar Ports, commenting on the development.
“It will not only boost coal exports from Mozambique and strengthen its economy, but also deliver significant direct and indirect benefits,” he said.
The project will enhance the coal handling capacity of Mozambique by 20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) in two phases of 10 MTPA each, said a company statement adding Mozambique is estimated to have reserves of over 23 billion tonnes of coal, which makes the country a major coal exporter that is well placed to cater to the international steel and power industries, especially in India, China, Japan and Korea.
The NCTB has dedicated rail connectivity to Mozambique’s coal mining belt in the Tete region, which CFM has recently enhanced to a capacity of 20 MTPA. The first phase of this project will be developed at a cost of close to $275 million and will entail developing dedicated berths, along with state-of-the-art, mechanised and environment-friendly systems.
Once operations commence, substantial direct and indirect employment opportunities will be created for the country’s citizens through downstream production and expansion in the supplier and service industry, the statement said.
