Unity Bridge

The Unity Bridge (English " Bridge of Unity ", örtl designation also port. " Ponte da Unidades " and Kiswahili " Daraja la Umoja " ) spans the Rovuma and connects the villages Mtambaswala in Tanzania and Negomane in Mozambique. It was officially opened on 12 May 2010. This not only provides a continuous road connection along the entire East African coast of the Indian Ocean.

In 1975, shortly after the independence of Mozambique, Samora Machel, the construction of a bridge was built by the President of Tanzania, Nyerere, and Mozambique, is proposed. There were feasibility studies and from 1980 to 1981, some preliminary work, the work was, however, adjusted for lack of funds. In 2002, a treaty between the two countries was closed in 2005, the Norwegian planning agency Norconsult was responsible for the planning and construction management. On 10 October 2005, the foundation stone was laid at the same place on both sides of the border river. The total cost was estimated at 25 million U.S. dollars, the construction work was in the hands of the Chinese construction company China Geo - Engineering Corp. .. As a completion date of mid-2008 was originally intended, due to problems with suppliers, this could not be observed. The costs have risen in the course of construction of 33 million U.S. dollars.

The bridge is 720 meters long, 13.5 meters wide and its vertex has a height of 10 meters above the water level at mean water level. It replaces the unreliable due to frequent technical problems ferry across the Rovuma, which in any case was only possible for pedestrians after the sinking of the ferry in July 2008.

Several criticisms have been leveled against the construction of the bridge on the realized location. On one hand, the access to the road network both in Tanzania and in Mozambique is insufficient, the slopes of Masasi (100 km ) or Mueda (180 km) are in poor condition, so hardly heavy traffic will be possible. Funds for the development of road connections are not available in both countries. On the other hand, the slope of Mueda after Negomane in many areas due to the hitherto largely untouched Niassa Game Reserve, so here an increase in poaching and further damage to wildlife are expected. Despite considerable efforts by both countries to receive financial assistance for the construction, they were both from the World Bank and the European Union - rejected - probably for the reasons mentioned.