TRANSPORT MAKES tracks

THE RAPID economic development that Mozambique is aiming for depends heavily on the country's infrastructure. The Ministry of Transport and Communications is directly responsible for ports, railways, air transportation and telecommunications. The Minister, Tomas Salomao, has some ambitious projects underway, both within Mozambique and regionally, in conjunction with the private sector. "We are seeking private capital to promote development by upgrading our infrastructure in transport and communications," he says.

The Ministry's plans include the privatization of major state enterprises. Among them are the state telecommunications company, TDM, to be partially privatized in January, and Mozambique Airlines (LAM), whose privatization will come later but which is now seeking strategic partners in order to expand its operations. Further projects involve the country's three major ports (Maputo, Beira and Nacala) and the rail lines, or 'corridors' which link them to Mozambique's landlocked neighbors-Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland-as well as to South Africa. As Mr. Salomao explains, "what we intend, through the corridors, is to reduce the imbalance in development."

The massive 80%-state-owned enterprise Mozambique Ports and Railways (CFM), the country's second-largest employer, is playing a leading role in these projects. It holds a 31% stake in the Nacala Corridor Development Company (SDCN), in which the majority shareholder is a consortium led by the U.S.-based Railway Development Co. More than a year ago, CFM and SDCN took over the management of Malawian Railways, which has now been renamed Central East African Railways. As Mr. Salomao notes, "this is the first exercise in which you have Mozambican companies taking part in a tender outside the country" and it should lead to an increase in traffic through the corridor. The challenge now is to show what can be done in terms of improving service standards. The key words, Mr. Salomao says, are "punctuality, safety and efficiency." With respect to Maputo, Mr. Salomao points out that "we need to integrate the Maputo airport into the network of the Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town airports."

LAM, or Mozambique Airlines, a profit-making enterprise, is still 80% state-owned (the other 20% is owned by its employees), but after a recent restructuring, it has full administrative and financial autonomy. It can, however, count on the cooperation and moral support of the government to expand and diversify, according to the company's chairman, José Ricardo Viegas. The priority now is to find strategic partners who can offer "financial muscle, know-how, a distribution network and good marketing services," he says. "We want to be an international airline and we want the name of LAM and Mozambique to be spread around the world," he explains.

The "financial muscle" he is seeking refers to the need for in-vestment to upgrade and increase LAM's fleet and equipment. At the moment, intercontinental ser-vices are limited to Lisbon, and, through agreements with the Portuguese airlines TAP and Portugale, to other destinations in Europe. In addition to a commercial arrangement with Air India to fly to Dubai, there is an agreement with TAP for flights to New York. Mr. Viega is currently examining alternatives for providing service to the U.S.