Share this
Mister Wong
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Hear this text
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
The North-South transport corridor is one of the largest infrastructure projects in AfricaThe North-South Corridor project kicks off with a one-stop border post.
The dream to turn part of sub-Saharan Africa into a free trading area linking several countries via an upgraded road and rail transport corridor, came a step closer to reality on 1 September when Zimbabwe and Zambia launched southern and central Africa’s first one-stop border post at Chirundu.
A day earlier, Zimbabwe’s Industry and Trade Minister Welshman Ncube, after touring the Beitbridge border post with South Africa, announced that his government had intensified efforts to upgrade the border post into a world-class urban centre and entry point, and that massive civil works were expected to commence soon.
Located in the hot and malarial Zambezi Valley, 340 kilometres west of Harare, Chirundu is the second busiest inland border post in southern Africa after Beitbridge.
Both border posts sit on the North-South Corridor, which runs between the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania in the north to the Copperbelts of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo and down through Zimbabwe and Botswana to the ports in South Africa; taking in ‘spur’ connections to the Great Lakes in the north and to Malawi in the east.
The North-South Corridor is actually an extensive international Aid for Trade project that aims to improve 8 650km of road and 600km of rail track along the corridor and maintain it in good order so as to create a reliable and efficient transport network.
The entire project is driven by three regional economic communities (RECs) – the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa).
It is backed by the United Kingdom’s Department of International Development (DFID) and being co-ordinated from Johannesburg by its Regional Trade Facilitation Programme (RTFP).
World Trade Organization (WTO) director-general Pascal Lamy has hailed the project as a “perfect” example of “aid for trade”, demonstrating African leaders’ focus on ensuring that opening trade remains top of the political agenda.
Speaking at the North-South Corridor Pilot Aid for Trade Conference in Zambia in April this year, Lamy said the project was an example of “how to put together all the elements necessary for trade to flow, creating the conditions necessary for the private sector to diversify from exporting a narrow range of raw material and add more value”.
He said the presence of the four African presidents at the conference – Zambian President Rupiah Banda, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, then South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni – showed political commitment.
“It says to the world that you, the presidents, know that problems will arise, but that you are ready to step in and act in this situation,” Lamy said.
A two-day conference on the financing of the project ended with donors and development partners pledging some US$1.2 billion to fund the upgrading of road, rail, ports and energy infrastructure and to support the implementation of trade facilitation instruments.
According to the RTFP and the great wealth of project assessment and research documentation, the North-South Corridor is the busiest corridor in the region in terms of values and volumes of freight.
Poor road and rail infrastructure and long waiting times at borders and ports create significant costs and hamper the ability of regional producers to access regional and international markets.
For example, transporting a single cargo of copper from the Copperbelt to the port of Durban currently takes, on average, two to three weeks. In Europe, the same distance would take 48 hours.
It is estimated that the lost income in terms of interest alone on a trainload of copper is about US$16 000 per week
of delay.
The same applies to other routes that form part of the corridor.
The journey from Kolwezi to City Deep in Johannesburg takes on average 15 to 20 days for general cargo (i.e. not refrigerated or dangerous goods), with 10 to 15 days in downtime at the border crossings.
If the transporter chooses to use the route through Botswana, his pay load would be restricted because the ferry at Kazungula across the Zambezi has a maximum gross vehicle mass (GVM) of 45 tons, compared to the maximum GVM of 56 tons for the road network as a whole.
In addition, the journey time is longer and the time saved at border crossings is minimal, if any.
The same is true if a transporter chooses to cross into Botswana at Kazungula and into South Africa at Labatse (Gaborone) instead of Martins Drift.
Some transporters using the Botswana route are now bypassing the delays at Kazungula by going further west to cross the Zambezi over the new bridge at Katima Mulilo and then coming back east into Botswana via Ngoma.
Even with the additional distance, the additional border crossing (and associated additional charges), some transporters reduce costs in this way, by avoiding the waiting times associated with the Kazungula ferry. This is because the standing costs for a 56-ton vehicle is between US$200 and US$400 a day, depending on the configuration of the vehicle.
As far as railway lines are concerned, most of them are operated under concessionary agreements. Nevertheless, the project proposes the upgrading of several railway tracks, including the TAZARA line at a cost of US$200 million; the Kapiri Mposhi railway line to Chingola, also for US$200m; an extension to the Northwest Railway Extension at US$250m; and the upgrading of the Victoria Falls–Bulawayo line, also at US$200m.
The establishment of a Regional Locomotive and Wagon Leasing Pool has also been suggested.
The North-South Corridor project will be implemented through other projects addressing trade facilitation issues and implementing regulatory and administrative reforms.
One is the finalisation and implementation of a programme to simplify and harmonise customs procedures and legislation, which is currently being done by a Comesa-EAC-SADC Task Force.
It will incorporate international Customs Best Practices for the Comesa-EAC-SADC Customs Administrations.
Both the SADC and Comesa have designed and piloted regional customs bond guarantee systems that allow transporters to take out a single bond covering the entire trip. The challenge is to take the best of each of these systems and merge them into one system for the benefit of the entire region.
The project aims to co-ordinate processes both within countries (between the various agencies that operate at a border post, and between the private sector stakeholders such as freight forwarders, transporters, customs clearance agents, etc.) and between countries; to address the causes of the main border post bottlenecks along the North-South Corridor; and to implement programmes that will result in significant reductions in time taken to cross borders.
A programme is being rolled out at Chirundu and detailed preparatory work is being done at three other border posts along the North-South Corridor, with a view to designing an implementation strategy that will result in a significant reduction in the time taken to cross through these border posts.
Although significant work has been done on transit management systems, there is a need to implement a system that incorporates industry best practices so that non-tariff barriers faced by transporters and traders are reduced significantly.
Harmonising and enforcing axle load and vehicle dimensions is another objective, including the determination of the most appropriate load limits for axles fitted with ‘super single’ tyres and a programme that harmonises weighbridges along the North-South Corridor.
Yet another project is to harmonise regional third-party vehicle insurance schemes, which requires detailed legal and financial expertise.
The project also calls for support for on-going cross-cutting initiatives addressing road safety and combating HIV/Aids and sexually transmitted diseases.
The total costs of implementing the trade facilitation and administrative changes through the tripartite arrangement would be around US$20.35m over five years.
In addition to the above, studies are continuing to find an appropriate institutional framework to administer the North-South Corridor, which is currently being done by a task force comprising experts from the Secretariats of the three RECs.
It is believed that as the number of inter-REC projects and programmes expands, there may be a need for a more permanent structure to co-ordinate activities.
The reporting functions of corridor management groups need to be harmonised and standardised so that the management groups have clear reporting functions to the regional organisations and so have access to the decision-making process of the policy organs of
the RECs.
The RECs have also been working on the design of an infrastructure fund that could be used to accept both public and private sector funds.
The idea is to bring together many initiatives that are taking place along this corridor and identify missing links and activities so that they can be dealt with in a co-ordinated manner.
In addition to upgrading infrastructure and simplifying customs and regulatory procedures, the integrated series of projects will also include measures to improve power supply and transmission in the 12 Southern African Power
Pool members.
Key stakeholders are expected to work with funders and businesses on a programme to reduce transport time, bottlenecks and costs along the North-South Corridor.
The estimated total cost of implementing all projects and programmes is about US$1bn over a five- to 10-year period.
Some of this will be in grants and concessionary loans, but there are also many opportunities for private investment.
According to the Regional Trade Facilitation Programme, potential outcomes from improvements along the Corridor include:
* A reduction in travelling times by road from Lusaka to Durban of 10%;
* A reduction in transit times at the Chirundu border post of at least 20%;
* An increase in generation and transmission of electricity in the region, particularly hydro-electric generation; and
* A reduction in transport cost savings to African businesses of about $50m per year.
I
