Disused bridge at Chirundu on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border
Linking Dar to Durban
Published: 07 July, 2009
Another infrastructure initiative is now looking to build regional markets within Eastern and Southern Africa, but what is different this time around?
Winding through Southern Zambian hills, the road from Lusaka to Chirundu on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border is a good one. In most parts it is newly resurfaced with clear markings, the legacy of a three-year Chinese engineering project, completed in 2008. A collapsed section is now being rebuilt by a team of local workers, overseen by a Chinese supervisor.
The route has been improved dramatically by the project. “Trucks used to just fall off into the escarpment,” says Kingsley Chanda, the former customs and excise commissioner of the Zambia Revenue Authority and now the project manager for the Chirundu one-stop border post pilot project, which forms part of a broader initiative, funded by international development partners, to improve the flow of goods within the region.
This is an important route for regional trade, linking the port of Dar Es Salaam and the resource industries of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the north, with Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique to the south. But while it is a valuable road, and one which has seen considerable investment, it is not without vulnerabilities.
The Kafue Bridge, around 50km from Lusaka, is the only way for most goods vehicles to cross the Kafue River and access the southern half of the route. Any problems at the bridge, Mr Chanda says, “and all the countries will be affected: Tanzania, Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa.” The route is in need of a failsafe, he says, though whether this means another bridge or an upgrade to the existing one is academic. “We are asking for a solution,” he says. “Potentially, this could be a disaster.”
The road through Kafue falls within the remit of a new “model” programme for improving the infrastructure along the main artery linking Dar Es Salaam and Durban. Dubbed the “North-South Corridor,” it emerged from the tripartite meeting of the Southern African Development Community, the East African Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa in October 2008, and formed the basis of a meeting of donor groups and regional governments convened in Lusaka in April 2009. Its goal, alongside raising development capital from donors, was to prepare a pipeline of “bankable” projects for investment by the public and private sector.
The state of the physical infrastructure in much of sub-Saharan Africa has attracted much focus from both the private sector and international development bodies over the past decade, but Mr Chanda’s current role is to overhaul another of the major barriers to the smooth flow of goods across the region: border controls.
A group of truck drivers resting at Chirundu, hauling a consignment of fertiliser from Beira in Mozambique, say that waiting times at the border can be as short as a day for duty-free loads, such as fertiliser, or as long as a week for shipping containers filled with mixed products. Chirundu has benefited from significant investment, including the construction of a new bridge by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, and is one of the most efficient along the route. It currently handles around 270 trucks, 8 buses and 1000 pedestrians per day, although traffic has been lower this spring, most likely due to falling international exports.
