“The selected entity will bring foreign currency to the country. As for ourselves, we will be able to eat tuna and other high quality fish”, Bongece told APA in a brief interview on Monday after paying a courtesy visit to the port.
The Mozambican government recently invested $120 million in the refurbishment of the port, which now has the capacity to receive 16 fishing boats at the same time.
The current Beira installations can only handle 300 tonnes of fisheries produce a year, but the fishing port has a state-of-the-art cold store complex, and these preservation facilities can enable the fishing port to handle 70,000 tonnes of produce a year.
Bongece said that the revitalization of the port has allowed fishing boats, particularly tuna boats, to land fish more easily, which is a substantial improvement for the economy of Beira province.
The Port of Beira is an important centre for shipping and logistics in the central Mozambican and Central African regions, while serving as a gateway by road, rail and pipeline to Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, DR Congo, and Malawi.
Beira is Mozambique’s third largest city.