CFM PCA Chairs SARA RAIL 2023 Conference
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique and President of the Southern African Railway Association (SARA), Agostinho Francisco Langa Júnior, presided, on the morning of October 25, 2023, in the South African city of Johannesburg, the official opening of the 12th Southern African Railways Conference and Exhibition (SARA), under the motto “Improving rail capacity and service quality through new operating models and partnerships for seamless regional integration and trade” .
On the occasion, Agostinho Langa renewed the commitment based on the strategies of the governments of the countries in the region in terms of rail transport. ” SARA’s current strategic focus is to continue promoting advocacy and lobbies with financial institutions and other stakeholders in the rail transport logistics chain, providing the creation of an appropriate and healthy business framework for the development of the rail transport industry”, he assured Langa.
The Conference brings together stakeholders in the railway value chain, including investors and service providers, and strategies and perspectives for the success of the sector’s activities in favor of the development of the organization’s member countries are being discussed.
Agostinho Langa Júnior, in addition to presiding over the SARA Conference, is representing the CFM, which operates in the three regions of the country, connecting neighboring countries such as South Africa, through the Ressano Garcia railway line, Eswatini, through the Goba, Zimbabwe, using the Limpopo line and Machipanda and Malawi, using the Sena line.
The company Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique also operates in the port sector, thus providing complementary transport logistics services across Southern Africa.
Among the various projects that CFM has been developing, the PCA highlighted the Ressano Garcia Line duplication project, which is about to be completed; the rehabilitation project for the Machipanda Railway Line, practically completed; the reconstruction project of the Mutarara-Vila Nova da Fronteira branch, which has already been completed, awaiting the completion of the Malawian counterpart.
Still in the same context, Agostinho Langa Júnior highlighted the memorandum signed between CFM and Transnet Freight & Rail (TFR) of South Africa and Swaziland Railway, aiming to improve the circulation, coordination and planning of trains between Mozambique and South Africa and Mozambique and Eswatini, thus increasing the efficiency of rail freight transport.
“This memorandum aims to optimize the functioning of the three railway companies and respond to the challenges of the logistics chain in the southern region of Africa, recommended in the SADC protocol, for transport, communications and meteorology. Therefore, these and other actions constitute the objective of SARA’s existence” – he pointed out.
At this forum, which runs until Friday, October 27, 2023, all stakeholders in the railway industry are present to share knowledge and experiences, aiming to improve railway performance and contribute to the economic development of the region.
It should be noted that the Southern African Railways Association was created in 1996 under article 13 of the Transport, Communications and Meteorology Protocol (PTCM) at SADC level, which advocates the creation of associations for each mode of transport within of the Community and SARA is responsible for rail transport.
Agostinho Langa Júnior assumes the rotating presidency of SARA since June 22, 2023, during the organization’s Ordinary meeting, which took place in the country’s capital, Maputo and will direct the destinies of the regional organization for a period of one year.
On this trip to RSA, the CFM PCA is accompanied by a multisectoral team, with the aim of finding new partners and reuniting with old partners for another exchange of experiences, with a view to the successful development of the company’s activity.