The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has identified five priority road projects to ensure the free f low of goods on Zambian transport corridors. Zambia’s National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) obtained its first US$262-million loan from the DBSA for road construction in 2010.Three of the roads (Senanga–Sesheke, Kabombo–Chavuma and Kalulushi–Lufwanyama) form part of the Trans-African Highways programme route stretching from Cape Town to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Katanga Province and onwards to Kinshasa. These roads link up as part of the Western Corridor in Zambia connecting the new western Copperbelt area with the DRC, Namibia, Angola and Botswana. The rehabilitation of the Western Corridor will fit into the wider corridor network programme for the SADC region, according to the DBSA.Funding for the Mumbwa – Landless Corner Road, which will bypass Lusaka, will come in part from a 20-year loan, which is the largest the DBSA has granted outside of South Africa, according to the bank. It says the bypass will ease traffic congestion from western to northern Zambia, and will shorten the travel distance by 108 kilometres.Another project that will shorten transit times is the upgrading of the Senanga – Sesheke corridor in western Zambia, which will enable trucks travelling between the DRC and western Zambia to Walvis Bay to avoid the Great North Road and Lusaka entirely.At present this route is being maintained by trucking companies over its worst untarred section. A link from Ndola and Chingola to the Western Corridor will be provided by the upgrading of the 84km Kalulushi – Lufwanyama link. “This route will ensure the efficient transportation of copper and other bulk commodities to and from the Walvis Bay Corridor,” states the DBSA..Improved access to other western harbours will be provided by the Kabombo – Chavuma road, which connects Zambia to the Angolan border and from there to the ports of Lobito and Luanda. It forms part of the Luanda to Nacala Development Corridor.Access to ports on the eastern seaboard will also be improved by upgrades to the Chipata – Lundazi road, which lies within the Nacala Development Corridor (Great East Road) and is part of the internal Zambian link between the Mtwara and Nacala Development Corridors.“The road is an essential element of infrastructure required to exploit the area’s agricultural, mining, commercial and tourism activities. “It also forms an extension link to the current Lusaka–Chipata corridor road,” states the DBSA.
