Avenida Julius Nyerere

Beginning of the Road (1929)

One of the important intersections in the Polana district, between Avenida 24 de Julho and Avenida Julius Nyerere

The Hotel Polana is located on Avenida Julius Nyerere 1380 and is one of the most renowned in Africa

Street scene on Avenida Julius Nyerere at the level of Praça dos Combatentes, which is dominated by the Xiquelene market

The Avenida Julius Nyerere is an 11.5-kilometer, four-lane road in the Mozambican capital Maputo . The north-south axis connects the eastern center of the city around Polana with the districts of Sommerschield , Polana Caniço A , Maxaquene , Mavalane , Hulene , Laulane and Magoanine . It is considered one of the most important streets in the city.

geography

The street begins in the extreme southeast of the city, at the intersection with Rua Nachingwea and Rua de Farol , where the Ministry of Defense and the Palácio da Ponta Vermelha presidential palace are located. From there it runs parallel to the coastline to the north and crosses the important streets Avenida 24 de Julho , Avenida Eduardo Mondlane , Avenida Mao Tsé Tung and Avenida Kenneth Kaunda in the districts of Polana and Sommerschield . From there, the road continues north, but is then interrupted due to the floods in 2000 , and traffic is diverted via Avenida da Marginal, a coastal avenue . Further to the northwest, the street is again passable shortly before the central square Praça dos Combatentes and leads as an axis to Praça da Juventude . From there, the extension of the street is called Avenida Coronel General Sebastião Mabote .

Administrative classification

Like every street in the Mozambican capital, this one also has an administrative number. Since Avenida Julius Nyerere is particularly long and runs through the three districts of KaMpfumo (1st district), KaMaxakeni (3rd district) and KaMavota (4th district), it even has several administrative numbers :

Avenida 1.023 (between Rua Nachingwea and Avenida Kwame Nkrumah)
Avenida 1.257 (between Avenida Kwame Nkrumah and Rua do Palmar)
Avenida 3.501 (between Rua do Palmar and Praça dos Combatentes)
Avenida 4.001 (between Praça dos Combatentes and Praça da Juventude)

A classification in the scheme of the national road network of the country has not been made.

history

The street is one of the main axes of the city and was laid out by the Portuguese when Lourenço Marques was founded . Due to the increasing urbanization of the city, the importance of the street also increased. Since the beginning of the 20th century at the latest, it bore the name of the Portuguese royal commissioner (Commissário Régio) António Enes , who, among other things, put down the rebellion of the Tsonga in the Portuguese colony .

With the independence of Mozambique , all colonial names disappeared from the streets of the city, which itself received the new name Maputo . Since then, the street has been named after the former Tanzanian president and supporter of the Mozambican independence movement FRELIMO , Julius Nyerere .

In the course of the weather-related and severe flooding in Mozambique in 2000, part of the road - the connection between the districts of Sommerschield II and Xiquelene - was undermined and has not been drivable since then. In the southern section between the beginning of the street and Praça do Destacamento Feminino , there was also massive road damage. For this reason, the City of Maputo, with financial support from the World Bank, has been renovating the street for 12.5 million US dollars since 2011; complete completion was originally planned for 2013. The commissioned company, Britalar , postponed the completion of the southern section of the road three times due to heavy rain; it was only completed at the beginning of 2014. Thereupon users of the street - especially the staff of the diplomatic missions nearby - as well as the city administration complained about the poor quality of the tar and the potholes that appeared after a short time. The company then admitted the deficiencies and had them repaired. A completion date is not known.

The construction work for the northern section and the associated restoration of the navigability between Sommerschield and Xiquelene began in 2013, but was discontinued in mid-2014. According to the commissioned company, invoices from the city administration are still pending. The city administration in turn is examining possible claims for damages.

Important buildings

Southern section

In particular in the southern part of the street - between Rua do Palmar and the beginning of the street - there are numerous important buildings of the city, including several ministries, diplomatic missions and companies have their headquarters on Avenida Julius Nyerere.

The diplomatic missions of Portugal, South Africa, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Japan, the People's Republic of China, France and the delegations of the European Union and the World Bank have their headquarters in the street. The ministries for national defense, for Justice as well as the three ministries in the presidential palace (for social affairs, for parliamentary, regional and local affairs as well as presidential affairs) have their seat in the street.

In addition, the two well-known hotels Hotel Avenida and Hotel Polana are located on Avenida Julius Nyerere, as well as the Polana Shopping Center , the local Instituto Camões , the Wedding Palace, the residence of the President. Further north there is a driveway to the Eduardo Mondlane University campus .

Northern section

The northern section is mainly characterized by informal trade , small houses, corrugated iron huts and similar forms of living. Of particular importance is the bus station on Praça dos Combatentes (usually just called "Xiquelene"), where numerous lines of the urban TPM buses and the semi-public chapas end, as well as the extensive market areas around the square.

Further north, in the Hulene B district , lies the city's only garbage dump on the road .