Opening of the multinational Kazungula Bridge heralds New Dawn for SADC regional integration

Next Monday, 10th of May 2021, President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi and his Zambian counterpart Edgar Lungu will officially open the US$ 260 million Kazungula Bridge and One Stop Border Post facility.

This monumental project on the North- South Corridor within the SADC includes a bridge linking Botswana and Zambia over the Zambezi River to replace the existing ferry, and a one- stop border facility at Kazungula.

It was built at an estimated total project cost of UA 162.06 million ( approximately USD 259.3 million) funded through a co- financing arrangement with Japan International Cooperation Agency ( JICA).

According to a project brief, the African Development Bank covers from the ADF window UA 51.00 million, equivalent to 31.5 percent of the total project cost. The balance is shared between Japan International Cooperation Agency ( 57.5 percent), Governments ( 9.2 percent) and EU- ITF Grant ( 1.8 percent).

As recently posited by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Peggy Serame, the economic significance of the project to the two countries, and indeed, to the Southern African Development Community ( SADC), cannot be overemphasised.

This facility will enable trade facilitation between the two countries and throughout the region and beyond. The bridge has significantly improved trade infrastructure of the Southern African Development Community ( SADC) and the African continent as a whole.

The bridge will facilitate easy access to intra- regional trade and international markets. Indeed, this is a welcome development for both SADC and Africa in particular, which this year launched the ambitious African Continental Free Trade Area ( AcFTA).

The region will be well- served by this bridge, which is strategically built at the confluence of the Zambezi River where Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe meet.

The bridge gives practical meaning to the SADC Protocol on Trade, as it will enable and facilitate movement of goods, peoples and services within the region and the rest of the continent.

The Kazungula Bridge is in fact an example of regional integration as amply put by President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi. The continent needs more projects of this kind.

This is indeed a milestone achievement for regional integration that should be celebrated. Both Zambia and Botswana together with their international development partners should be commended for believing in the project. In the same vein, the project contractors – Daewoo Engineering and Construction of South Korea - must equally take the credit for delivering the project under strenuous conditions.

President Lungu of Zambia was right when he recently said that the bridge was an example of what the region was capable of once they joined hands to enhance cooperation and trade facilitation.

Finally, we extend our gratitude to the Peoples and Government of Japan, for the support in this project.

The One- Stop Border Post cuts excess administrative work at immigration and customs thereby reducing border transit time through improved border management systems and improved procedures on trade facilitation.

But above all, it will spur trade through increased traffic throughput and reduced time- based transport and trade cost since in business, time is of the essence.

This will also save governments enjoined in this project millions in money that would otherwise be lost to the duplicate paperwork that has to be done when travellers move from one country to the other.