Early border closing set to change
Ed Richar dson
BY CO MBINING the strengths of the public and
private sectors, the Walvis Bay C orridor Group
is changing the way freight is moved through
Southern Africa.
“Our challenge has been to develop trade
routes that link Namibia with the rest of
Southern Africa and the world,” says Johny
Smith, business development executive for the
Walvis Bay C orridor Group (WBCG).
“At independence in 1990, the only direct
link to Zambia, for example, was through
South Africa – and then over gravel roads. This
changed in 1999 with the construction of the
Trans C aprivi H ighway (a tarred road) and
was completed in 2004 with the building of a
road bridge over the Zambezi river marking the
completion of the Trans C aprivi C orridor,” he
says.
This is one of three corridors which use Walvis
Bay as a port of entry or exit. It extends from the
Port of Walvis Bay through to Zambia and the
southern D emocratic Republic of C ongo (DRC).
“This is proving to be a viable alternative
to ports on the East C oast of Africa which are
congested and which are further away from the
European and American markets,” he says. The
average transit time from Walvis Bay to Lusaka is
four days, with “minimal border delays,” he adds.
Private and public forums initiated through
the WBCG are helping to smooth out any
problems.
The other two corridors are the Trans Kalahari
Corridor, which connects the Port of Walvis Bay
to Gauteng through Botswana, and the Trans
Cunene C orridor, which links the Port of Walvis
to southern Angola.
Smith describes the Trans C unene as a
“natural corridor”. It serves southern Angola and
Namibia’s relatively densely-populated northern
region, and is showing consistent growth. An
extension of the rail link provides an alternative
to road transport.
The corridor with the biggest potential
and least success to date is the Trans Kalahari
between Walvis Bay and Gauteng. “At present
80% of Namibian imports come from Gauteng,
but 40 to 60% of trucks return empty. This
despite the fact that Gauteng importers can save
several days by using Walvis Bay on freight from
Europe and the Americas rather than D urban,” he
says.
There is a guaranteed 48-hour delivery from
the Port of Walvis Bay to Gauteng.
The WBCG has identified a number of reasons
why the route is not realising its potential. O ne
is that the border post on the S outh African
side closes too early at night. This however
will change in the near future as part of the
three governments' commitment to effectively
address and improve crucial issues for cross
border transport and trade along the Trans
Kalahari C orridor (TKC) as envisaged in the
TKC Memorandum of Understanding which
was signed by the three ministers of transport
in November 2003. Another is stray animals in
Botswana.
“We have established a forum and a
committee to focus on the issues and are
confident that we will be able to make the route
a success,” he says.
Corridors benefit from public/private sector strengths
10 Apr 2007 - by Staff reporter
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