Mozambican logistics company Mozambique STT and Chinese state-owned PowerChina Hubei Engineering Co. Ltd have struck a deal worth US$324 million for the construction of a deep-water port at Chongoene in southern Mozambique, AIM reports.

The Mozambican news agency says the deal, signed this month, provides for work on building the port to begin next month, if the engineering and environmental impact studies allow, and to be finished by June 2025.

The report says the port will concentrate on loading ships with minerals, and have the capacity to handle 150 million tonnes of cargo a year.

Building the port is an essential part of a project costing US$700 million to furnish the Chongoene Development Corridor with infrastructure, including one railway connecting the port of Chongoene with Chicualacuala, 221 km away on the Zimbabwean border, and another connecting the port with the neighbouring province of Inhambane, AIM says.