Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa February 2016 | Page 60

AFRICA

Nacala
Past, present, future,
BY BRYAN WESTER

N

acala, located along the northern coastline
of Mozambique, boast one of the deepest
natural ports on the African continent.
Founded as a primary centre for fishery, agriculture and
cement exports during the Portuguese rule, it is now
fast becoming the epicenter of modern Mozambique
with the development of the Nacala Deep water port,
railroads, and Nacala Development corridor. This
all results in a vast expansion of this small town and
attracts a herd of real estate developers.
The port of Nacala, currently under vast upgrades
and construction into a world-class destination, sits
at 60m deep and 800m wide. This thereby allows no
restrictions on vessel movements or sizes, which places
this city at the focus of all exports within the country
and on a global scale for access of Africa.
The brand new ‘Areoporto de Nacala’ airport was
official opened in December 2014 by the previous
President of Mozambique, Armado Guebuza.
Having been designed by Brazilian architecture firm
‘Fernandes Arquitetos Associados’ and constructed by
the Brazilian company of ‘Odebrecht’, the US$144
million project that has been funded through a credit
line provided by the Brazilian Government, has a
capacity for 500, 000 passengers per year, and occupies
an area of about 500 Xܙ\˂