The airport would improve the mobility of people and goods, and make it easier to respond to natural catastrophes in the remote Gaza province, Mozambique's Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi said.

China has also agreed to finance the purchase of 100 commuter buses at a cost of $7.5m. The buses would be assembled by a firm in China after a public tender, China's ambassador to Mozambique, Su Jian, said.

In a further initiative, China has promised to install a satellite television system in 500 Mozambican villages. Many people in Mozambique are poor and lack basic infrastructure. But a $200m airport, built three years ago in the north, is hardly used