The Maputo-Katembe Bridge and its 187 km of associated roads in Maputo, built by a Chinese contractor with Chinese money, has helped increase tourism in Mozambique and the income earned from it, Xinhua reports.
The Chinese government-run news agency quotes a local government official in Maputo, João Tembe, as saying the Matutuíne district had 162,000 visitors, most of them South Africans, in the first half of this year, 37.4 percent more than in the first half of last year; and that the amount they spent was over US$1 million, twice what visitors spent a year earlier.
Mr Tembe attributed the increases to greater ease of access to Matutuíne due to the opening last November of the bridge and associated roads, Xinhua says.