Rebuilding a bridge over Mozambique’s troubled waters

The Quelimane airport in Mozambique’s Zambezia province is a reminder of another era. The benign neglect of decades is easy to see in its dilapidated walls and peeling paint. Not much seems to have changed here over the years.

We were there on an implementation support mission with the purpose of reviewing progress, providing assistance, and ensuring adherence to agreed-upon project commitments, as well as rules and regulations for implementation. The normalcy on the surface hides the depth of pain and suffering. A year ago, more than 1,300 people died, many disappeared, and millions were affected by the miseries unleashed by Cyclone Idai.

We met Nurse Salomé Lolinda, 27, who recalled with sadness the day the cyclone ripped through her village of Derre, in the Zambezia province. She was accompanying a seriously ill patient to the province capital in an ambulance when they got stuck in the middle of the bridge. They remained trapped in the ambulance for two days before they were rescued.

Thanks to tree trunks torn from the riverbank, which filled in gaps in the bridge, the ambulance was not dragged into the water, saving its occupants their lives. The water’s fury partially collapsed the Lua-lua River bridge, which connects the north and south sides of Derre. This isolated many of the 6,000 people in the community, whose importance has increased since it became a district headquarters not long ago.

For nearly three months, farmers, traders, students, patients, and travelers wanting to get from one side of the village to the other had to choose between two unpalatable options. One was risking their lives by using makeshift canoes and rafts to steer through dangerous currents. The other was spending six hours walking around the river.

Today, with support from Integrated Feeder Roads Development Project, cars, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians are crossing the river as they did before  Idai swooped in, followed by another cyclone, Kenneth, just six weeks later. Bridge crossers can also once again spot women and girls on the banks below using the river to wash clothes.

The bridge is vital to Derre’swell-being. Most of the predominantly agricultural village residents live on one side. On the other are such crucial services as the district government headquarters, the schools, and the Derre health center, which treats more than 300 people a day.

Boosting the community's potential for production and commercialization

Since the bridge was rebuilt, it takes only 15 minutes again to get from the village’s agricultural and residential area to the district headquarters.

As the Derre District Administrator, Mr Santiago Marques, put it, the Lua Lua river bridge represents a lifeline between the rural communities on both sides of the river. Restoring the bridge didn’t just help Derre. It also benefited communities some distance away by allowing Derre-area farmers to get their products to them. These included the city of Mocuba north of Derre, the village of Morrumbala in the south, and the strategic village of Zero along National Road number 1 (N1).

For families, the difference was immediate. Corn, which cost residents such as Júlio Maque 25 Mozambican meticais during the bridge’s impassibility, now costs 10.

Restoring the bridge has practically demonstrated that nothing works without a robust road network. Access to health care, agriculture, education, and every aspect of reconstruction requires a functional and adequate road system.

In the short span of six months, we have helped rebuild hundreds of km of roads, dozens of bridges, and have restored connectivity on nearly three thousand km of the affected road network. To accomplish this miracle in a post-disaster, fragile country,  experts from many areas of the Bank worked together to innovate, expeditiously solve issues, and help Mozambique build its technical, environmental and social safeguard, procurement and fiduciary capacities.

As we completed our implementation mission, waiting to board the flight to Maputo, we are reminded of Nurse Salomé Lolinda, who now uses the newly built bridge to provide critical medical care to the public. We have a long road ahead towards achieving normalcy in many parts of Mozambique,  meanwhile, we will keep building bridges over troubled waters.