SANF 08 No 57
As southern Africa takes regional integration to unprecedented levels with the inauguration of the Free Trade Area, the need for efficient, seamless and cost-effective infrastructure corridors has become more urgent than ever before.
Trade in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is hampered by the multiplicity of borders and the delays at many border posts while documents and cargoes are checked.
As noted by the Director of Infrastructure and Services Directorate at SADC Secretariat, Remmy Makumbe, the success of a free trade zone hinges upon an effective plan to implement infrastructure development corridors at national and regional levels.
Makumbe further underscored the need to mobilise resources in order to address the issue of transport infrastructure, especially roads, rail and ports. This he said will require US$20 billion funding which is expected to come from Member States and co-operating partners.
The increase in intra-SADC trade requires a vibrant transport infrastructure while seamless networks are needed to interconnect landlocked countries as well as link them to the major ports.
Historically, the SADC region has had several traditional surface transport corridors operating as natural routes to and from the sea. These have been used primarily for export of raw materials from the region to the rest of the world as well as import of finished products from the rest of the world into the region.
However, the operations of some of these corridors, said Makumbe, have been hampered to varying degrees by infrastructure bottlenecks such as “poor roads, bridges, curves, border infrastructure layout and logistics, as well as lengthy and unnecessarily complicated and non-harmonised customs border procedures and documents”.
“The performance of these corridors, when benchmarked against transport corridors around the world, has revealed poor levels of efficiency, poor turnaround and hence high costs of transportation, resulting in poor competitiveness of exports from the region in global markets as well as high landing costs of imported products in the region,” said Makumbe, who is also the Acting Chief Director of SADC.
Inevitably, these high costs have been passed on to the final consumer by the various service providers. This situation has given rise to a relatively lower quality of life for the majority of SADC citizens.
In response to a directive by the 2007 SADC Summit, the Secretariat is developing a SADC Corridor Strategy in consultation with the Member States. Makumbe said that SADC has launched a study to put together the best corridor practices of the region as well as those from elsewhere around the world as an integral part of the wider corridor strategies to develop and modernize all the SADC Corridors.
The SADC Corridors that are being developed in conjunction with the Member States include: the Dar es Salaam Corridor, Mtwara Development Corridor, Nacala Development Corridor, Shire-Zambezi Waterway, Beira Corridor, Limpopo Corridor, Maputo Corridor, Libombo Development Corridor, Lesotho Railway, Trans-Kalahari Corridor, Walvis Bay Corridor, Trans-Caprivi Corridor, North-South Corridor, Trans-Kunene Corridor, Lobito Corridor, and the Malanje Corridor.
The proposed Kazungula Bridge, which is meant to link Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, is one project that is pivotal in stimulating trade within the context of the SADC Free Trade Area and Customs Union in 2010.
“I am convinced that even though the three countries are implementing this project, its impact will be felt in the [SADC] region as a whole,” said Makumbe.
Consultations are underway on the implementation of the Kazungula Bridge Project and a contract is expected to be signed once all outstanding issues are agreed upon by the parties involved.
The construction of the Kazungula Bridge is meant to replace the existing ferry, which constitutes a major bottleneck to free movement of persons and goods between the three countries.
