Mozambique’s young engineers are building careers as well as corridors — AfDB

Civil engineer Wilson Armindo Nhapulo knows Mozambique’s road network well from studying it on paper. Now, through the African Development Bank Group’s investments in the country’s roads, he is helping to expand it.

Nhapulo is one of 15 recent university graduates, four of them women, who began placements with the National Roads Administration (ANE) in September 2026 under its Young Graduate initiative. Working on active road projects along the Nacala and Mtwara corridors in northern Mozambique, they are gaining their first structured experience of delivering major public infrastructure. Their days are spent working alongside engineers, supervision teams and contractors, as well as specialists in environmental and social safeguards, procurement and digital systems.

Six of the graduates, including Nhapulo, are assigned to road projects financed by the African Development Bank Group.

“I hope to move from theoretical models and academic simulations to the real scale of the national road network,” said Nhapulo, a graduate of Eduardo Mondlane University.

The graduates were formally welcomed at a meeting at ANE on 15 September 2026, by the African Development Bank Group’s Country Manager for Mozambique, Rômulo Cunha Corrêa, and ANE Deputy Director General Miguel Coanai. The meeting also discussed closer cooperation between the Bank and ANE, institutional capacity, the country’s road investment pipeline and the scope to scale up investment in Mozambique’s transport sector.

Corrêa said: “Investing in infrastructure must also mean investing in people. By giving young Mozambican graduates practical experience on real projects and opportunities to learn from experienced professionals, we are helping to develop the skills and expertise needed for Mozambique’s future. The African Development Bank is proud to support these young professionals as they transition from university into professional practice.”

ANE’s Deputy Director General Miguel Coanai said: By placing the graduates within ANE and on active road projects, we are developing their technical skills but also investing in the next generation of professionals who will help plan, deliver and manage Mozambique’s road infrastructure in the years ahead.”

The Young Graduate initiative builds on earlier work. In 2025, 17 students from vocational and technical institutions in Cabo Delgado took placements on road construction sites, training in surveying, materials testing, earthworks, pavement construction, structures and drainage. The 2026 programme extends the approach to university graduates, creating a progression from vocational exposure to graduate-level practice and deepening the pool of locally trained technical talent.

The initiative sits within the Bank’s broader road investments in northern Mozambique, particularly the Mueda–Negomano road (approximately 170 km) and the Nacala Corridor (over 1,000 km), together worth roughly USD500 million. Joint financing from the African Development Fund, the European Union, JICA, Korea EXIM Bank and the Government of Mozambique reflects a strong partnership approach to expanding strategic road connectivity while building local capacity.

Job creation has also been an important development benefit across the Bank’s infrastructure investments in Mozambique. The work has generated more than 1,500 direct jobs, as well as additional indirect employment through local contractors, suppliers, and transport services. The roads are also stimulating economic activity along the corridors they serve.

By integrating graduate development into infrastructure investments, the African Development Bank is leaving Mozambique something that will outlast the asphalt: a pipeline of technical talent to plan, deliver, and manage what comes next.

Source: African Development Bank- AfDB