21 Jun 2020

 Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ms Alicia Mokone says the Kazungula bridge project will stimulate economic growth in the SADC region.

Speaking during a tour of the project on June 19, she said once in operation, the bridge would open trade doors between SADC countries, boost regional economy and increase global competitiveness of goods from SADC.

“The bridge will help to oil the economies of our countries and stimulate movements of goods, people and services from far north,” she added.

Ms Mokone stated that the project was a cut above the rest in the region.Meanwhile, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Wilfred Mandlebe described the bridge as an icon in the SADC region, adding that it had reached its completion stage.

He explained that the railway line component was important because it would complement road transport.

The project consultant, Mr Kobamelo Kgoboko, said the bridge was a high security area, with features that required experts to operate.

Though the project was 99.9 per cent complete, he said, the railway line and the surfacing of the road to bitumen standard were still behind.

Furthermore, Mr Kgoboko said with only two months left, the contractor would have to double up its work to ensure that project would be handed over in August as planned.

He promised that the surfacing of the road would be completed not later than July this year. 

Mr Kgoboko said construction of the bridge played a major role in providing employment to citizens.

The permanent secretaries agreed that the project should be used as soon as possible in order to pick up the defects on time.

The delegation was shown the passenger terminal building that had a drug detain store and holding rooms for suspects. 

They were also shown the scanner building and the freight terminal before they visited the bridge itself to appreciate is progress.

The 750 metres Kazungula bridge comprises of three components, two roads with a railway track in between and walkways on both sides, measuring roughly 930 meters across the river, along with access roads and border control facilities on both sides. ends