Save the Children said that the positive experience of the Zambezi Bridge construction leads it to believe that social problems can largely be avoided. Concerns raised at the start of the project have led to mechanisms for social protection.
Save the Children had expressed its worries in a report published in 2006. This said that the presence of large numbers of single, male workers flush with money in an impoverished community had led in the past to the sexual and physical exploitation of local women and children, prompted by their circumstances to enter into relationships which frequently pose a threat to themselves and their families around them.
This weekend's opening of the bridge allows traffic to cross the river in minutes instead of relying on a dilapidated ferry system that could involve waits of days. The bridge was built by Mota-Engil/Soares da Costa and received funding from the European Commission as well as the Italian, Swedish, Japanese and Mozambique governments. The lead designer was WSP International Sweden.
