Chirundu one-stop border post set to go in April

It is down to the final items in
sorting out the one-stop border
post in Chirundu between Zambia
and Zimbabwe.
The old bridge will be fixed by March
and the intention is to open the one-stop
border post early in April even though the
official launch will only take place once
the politicians have agreed on a date.
Barney Curtis, the executive officer
of the Federation of East and Southern
African Road Transport Associations
(Fesarta), says that this will bring a very
big change to the region as it will be the
first of hopefully many such border posts
to be converted to one-stop.
“As it is the first in Africa, there is a lot
of nitty-gritty to resolve which was never
thought of when the original documents
were drawn up. The biggest problem
was getting each department, such as
customs, health, agriculture, etc, to agree
on the overall structure and operations at
the border post.
“The politicians have been very good.
The Chirundu one-stop border post was
agreed on at a Codesa meeting four
years ago and they have supported the
process ever since. We are still waiting
for Zambia to pass the law enabling
the country to operate the post, but the
minister has assured us that he will
accelerate the process. Zimbabwe passed
its law quite a few months ago.
“The last few items that need attention
include training, finalising exactly
how the facilities are to be shared, and
spelling out the detail on exactly how the
border post will be managed once it is up
and running.”
The next one-stop border post on the
agenda is Lebombo/Ressano Garcia.
“Unfortunately this is a bit of a mess
partly because all the stakeholders
weren’t involved in the original
decision-making process. It will happen
but not soon as the funds available are
insufficient to finance the proposed new
infrastructure.” Curtis said.