LUSAKA, Zambia
Botswana and Zambia have opened the $260m Kazungula Bridge, which may help alleviate congestion at one of Africa’s busiest border crossings in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
The 923m road and rail bridge offers a faster and cheaper
alternative to a route via Beitbridge on Zimbabwe’s border with SA. Kazungula
has a one-stop border facility located near the quadripoint that links
Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi and Zambian President
Edgar Lungu presided over the ceremony on Monday to mark the opening of
Kazungula. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi,
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa
also attended the ceremony.
Bottlenecks at the Beitbridge crossing usually result in a
snarl-up of commercial traffic and cargo on the route, which is also an
important access point for the DRC. On average, about 25,000 people pass
through Beitbridge daily, according to Zimbabwean officials.
Beitbridge — between SA and Zimbabwe — has for years been
the busiest border post in the region. Zimbabwe’s international trade ministry
says about 600 trucks pass through that border each day. That is in addition to
about 60 buses and 2,000 light vehicles. The commercial traffic alone accounts
for monthly revenue of $45m.
Botswana and Zambia have agreed in principle to incorporate Zimbabwe into the Kazungula bridge spanning the Zambezi River, and the one-stop border post linking the two countries.
Initially, the late former Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe
was against the bridge construction because Botswana and Zambia do not share a
land border.
The sentiment was the same during the colonial era when
Rhodesia and SA, which administered South West Africa (Namibia), declared the
route illegal.
During construction the bridge was reportedly designed to
curve away from Zimbabwe, so as not to encroach on its territory.
It creates an alternative “north-south corridor” ultimately
connecting Cape Town in the south and Cairo in the north, bypassing Zimbabwe.
Speaking at the ceremony, Masisi said: “I am happy to note that the Republic of Zimbabwe and ourselves [Botswana] and Zambia have agreed in principle to be a partner in this project. Our officials are working, and they will work increasingly faster and harder, to complete the remaining works with Zimbabwe.”
In his address at the ceremony, Mnangagwa said: “In the
fullness of time, Zimbabwe will be part of this hallmark project, which
accelerates our regional integration efforts.”
Zimbabwe intends to join in the bridge’s last phase and has
offered to pay a third of the $259.3m project.
“We have agreed with our counterparts, the government of
Botswana, the government of Zambia, we are now part of the Kazungula bridge and
subsequently we are going to be paying our portion of the development of that
bridge,” Zimbabwe foreign affairs minister Frederick Shava told journalists.
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