29 Jul 2019

The joint transnational project between Botswana, South Africa and Namibia, Trans Kalahari corridor is said to be making strides on road infrastructure to unlock trade relations between countries.

In an interview with BOPA Trans Kalahari Corridor (TKC) executive director Mr Leslie Mpofu said the TKC was a strategic economic corridor which was key in development and brought about deeper regional integration which would enhance growth prospects of countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC)  block.

Currently, he said, the road network system along the corridor which spans across the three countries was being developed to facilitate movement of goods and people.

He said in Botswana, the Mabutsane-Morwamosu road stretch was being upgraded, the road construction in Kalkfountein  was complete and Jwaneng-Kanye road was also complete.

In South Africa, the road between Zeerust and  Swaartregens was also being expanded and Rustenburg was being improved and necessary amenities to bring the corridor to live such as fuel filling stations are already in place at Brits. “These are things that cause the corridor to be live,” he said.

Between Brits and Rustenburg a dual carriage way was constructed. While in Namibia the road stretch between the Hosea Kutako International airport in Windhoek was also being upgraded into a dual carriage way.

Further, the road between Windhoek and Okahandja was also being developed into a dual carriage way, while between Okahandja and Karabis the single carriage way road was being expanded.

Mr Mpofu said the developments were being fast tracked as the TKC was an important corridor to the SADC region as it promoted the enhancement of economies where employment was created, boosted agriculture production, industrialisation, and transport hubs.

Apart from the corridor being a transport corridor, the target was to also make it a developmental corridor, and an economic corridor which promotes development initiatives along the corridor thus creating employment for the people.

He said the people were already benefiting from the trickle-down effect where truck drivers stop to buy items and seek services. So far, he said, apart from road construction, the TKC had made visible improvements in livelihoods of people in places like Kanye, Jwaneng and Kang.

“People are getting employment in these road infrastructure development projects and the informal sector is also getting something. We have tourists buying artifacts and food along the way.

The corridor is considered a strategic economic linkage as it provides the shortest route to the sea with  investors and traders benefitting from the reduced time it takes to transport their goods.

“This impacts on the transport costs. Their products do not delay at Walvis bay because within two days they arrive in Gaborone,” he said.

Further Mr Mpofu asserted that Botswana had a dry port in Walvis Bay, was a gateway to the sea which was also a very important aspect that investors considered when they sought to invest in a country.

To develop the corridor, ‘We are looking at infrastructural development which can create employment for the people such as fuel filling stations, truck stops, garages, hotels industrial, and agriculture processing industries as there are farms along the way.  

The goods would then easily go to the market using the corridor” he said.

He said there was increasing demand to invest in the TKC as investors expressed interest to construct truck stops along the corridor.

However, he said a lot of them encountered challenges especially on change of land use.

“The major challenge is that some departments do not understand what TKC is about. When investors inquire, they do not know how they can assist them especially on the issue of land use,” he stated.

Thus he said, their responsibility as the TKC was to play an advocacy role and come in to advice.

He said the land use policies and legislations needed to be relaxed to ensure that the corridor had all the necessary facilities in place across all involved countries.

“We already have investors who want to establish truck stops in Kang and Charleshill. The challenge was to acquire land. Land board has rejected them but we came in and advised them,” he said.

He said the challenge in all the three countries was that investors needed to apply for change of land use which often caused problems as land was already designated for another purpose.

Thus, he said when one wanted to invest along the corridor, they should inform the TKC so that they could be assisted.

Furthermore he said, if one wanted to put up a truck stop or a filling station, the TKC provided standards of what was required in line with the legal instruments of the countries.

Mr Mpofu also said cattle roaming the highway was a challenge especially in Botswana.

He said non-tariff barriers which could endanger lives of truck drivers and damage the millions of monies worth of goods being transported was another challenge.

Another challenge was that member states had differing legal instruments that caused potential corridor users to choose alternative corridors citing an example of grey vehicle imports which were accepted in other countries while not allowed in others. Ends