In 2018, the Municipality of Maputo applied to MobiliseYourCity, a multi-partnership initiative launched at COP21 in Paris which seeks to support governments in emerging and developing countries in their efforts towards sustainable urban mobility planning. Following a selection process launched jointly by the French Agency for Development (AFD) and the Transport Metropolitan Agency of Maputo (AMTP), Transitec in partnership with Transamo were selected for the elaboration of a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). The SUMP process led by Agência Metropolitana de Transportes de Maputo officially took off in April 2021 in cooperation with Maputo Municipality, Matola Municipality, Boane Municipality and Marracuene District.
A rapidly growing city
With 2.6 million inhabitants distributed over 806 km², Greater Maputo has a relatively low population density. There is continuous outward growth further away from the central area towards the outskirts of Maputo, spreading into neighbouring districts, especially to the north into Marracuene. One major challenge of the SUMP is to address this urban growth, considering that, by 2035, the Metropolitan Area is expected to reach 4 million inhabitants.
A saturated road network
The road network in Greater Maputo is saturated, with a travel speed of less than 20km/h during peak hours on most of the roads. The most critical situation is observed between the city centre and the suburbs, especially in the northern and western parts of Greater Maputo. For district roads, the proportion of paved roads is still very low (36% for Maputo city, 15% for Marracuene) which makes these residential areas poorly served by public transport, and poorly accessible for most of the population.
A public transport system dominated by informal transport modes
Public transport in
Maputo is covered by minibuses (“Chapas”), flat-bed trucks (“myloves”), public
buses, taxis, ferry services and a limited commuter rail service. The 2012
Master Plan showed a modal share of 32,9% for paratransit, which may need to be
updated following the introduction of 400 buses in 2016. These public buses are
operated by cooperatives and municipal transport companies working on a
Metropolitan Structural Network (REM) and coordinated by the Transport
Metropolitan Agency (AMT). The cooperatives are formed by 150 members who
manage one to six buses, leased by the government. As for the Chapas, each municipality expand
transport licences and sets the fare in agreement with one of the twelve
transport association. Regarding Myloves,
the operation is completely informal.