North-South Corridor
North-South Corridor Map
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| Copper stacked in Zambia awaiting export | |
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| Maputo harbour, along with Dar es Salaam is a major outlet for regional trade | |
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| The region's rail networks are important transport routes for trade | |
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| Kolwezi is a major coper producing region but trucks must still navigate roads which can be all but impassable in the rainy season | |
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| A well maintained road in Tanzania stretches across great distances to Zambia |
With additional financing from DFID, and at the request of the Task Force, RTFP is working on a pilot programme on the North-South Corridor (which runs between the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to the Copperbelts of Zambia and DR 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 proposal is to bring together the initiatives which are taking place along this corridor and identify missing links and activities so that they can be dealt with in a coordinated manner. Status Report Update of October 2008.
The North-South Corridor is a highly flexible road and rail corridor which carries large volumes of regional trade, in particular exports from South Africa to neighbouring countries. Except for some sections, the roads are mostly in good condition but railway services are generally unpredictable and will require substantial investment to be more competitive with road transport. The majority of the exports from DR Congo, Zambia and the southern Great Lakes region go through the port of Dar es Salaam and, again, there is a mixture of both well and poorly maintained infrastructure.
The objectives of the North-South Corridor programme are:
- To address the transport/transit corridor in a holistic manner (meaning that regulatory, administrative and infrastructural constraints to transport/transit are addressed together;
- To ensure that interventions aimed at reducing costs and time are done in a sequential manner so that there is a “knock-on” effect in terms of savings along the entire route;
- To develop a GIS database to allow all information to be looked at together so that fully informed decisions can be made;
- To support regional trade policy regulation and trade facilitation initiatives; and
- To strengthen national, regional and inter-regional initiatives.
Funds will be used for technical assistance; small infrastructural projects (such as modifications to buildings at border posts) and preparation of tender documents for large infrastructure projects for financing by other donors and IFIs.
The Tripartite Task Force is already working on regulatory or administrative bottlenecks (such as simplification of customs procedures and legislation etc) and the Programme Manager who has been contracted by RTFP has already driven all roads on the corridor; consulted with all the national Directors of Roads and identified works that need to be completed within 2, 5 and 10 year time frames. The information which has been gathered (as well as ongoing modelling on freight flows; assessment of bulk mineral production; location of weighbridges and other checks) has been loaded onto a GIS database which can be seen on the North-South Map link at the top of this page or on the Home page.
With regard to railway bottlenecks, the statistic that the current contracted railway transit time between Durban and Ndola (on Zambia’s Copperbelt) is 21 days (as against some 6 - 8 days by road) gives an indication of just how uncompetitive trains are. (Since this is less than a fast walking pace, the scale of the problem becomes evident). All the N-S railways are suffering from equipment shortages mainly related to poor utilisation and availability rather than increased traffic. Regional railway connectivity is excellent but cross border operations are poor and none of the regional railway systems have been profitable for many years.
The region’s ports are also experiencing congestion. Dar es Salaam is the prime N-S port, whilst Durban is South Africa’s major port, with some traffic going through other ports such as Walvis Bay, Maputo and Beira.
This scenario is not news to SADC which launched the SADC Corridor Strategy in June 2008. Proposals made at that meeting have now been adopted so appropriate national and trans-boundary institutional structures will be established; implementation will be achieved through the joint action of all involved ministries and financing will be sought through cooperating partners. In this context, RTFP will finance a long term consultant to manage the SADC Corridors Infrastructure Development and Transport and Trade Facilitation Programmes.
Thus, the RTFP’s North-South Corridor Aid for Trade Programme has become operational at an opportune time to assist with the identification of projects and financing.
Financing for the projects on the North-south Corridor will be invited from cooperating partners as well as the private sector. In preparation for a major conference which will be held in the first quarter of 2009, the RTFP Director made a presentation on 11.10.08 in the margins of the World Bank AGM