•The new Kazungula bridge promises to reduce waiting times to around two hours.

On either sides of the Zambezi River, hundreds of trucks queue to cross the Kazungula border between Botswana and Zambia. Looking west is Namibia, looking east Zimbabwe. It is a popular route and one that is about to get even busier with the construction of the new Kazungula Bridge already underway.
Previously, trucks could only cross two at a time at the border using one of two ferries. The waiting period to make the crossing could take up to three days. This turned into five days and more if one of the ferries broke down.
The new bridge promises to reduce waiting times to around two hours.
Since the SADC Free Trade Area was introduced in 2008, intra-SADC trade has exploded. Now every day trucks and trains travel the length and breadth of the SADC region, allowing goods to flow from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to South Africa and from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean.
SADC’s Protocol on Trade has long recognised the need to facilitate trade in SADC countries. It’s a key tool to stimulate economic growth and fight poverty in Southern Africa. It commits SADC Member States to eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers, which would otherwise stem the freeflow of goods throughout the region.
In the first decade after the Trade Protocol went into effect in 2000, intra-SADC trade increased by 155 per cent, from USD 13.2 billion to about USD 34 billion. Now the Kazungula Bridge, deep in the heart of SADC, will become a prominent pillar in further accelerating the expansion of trade between the member States.
In line with the Trade Protocol, the Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP) facilitates the development of seamless, cost-effective trans-boundary infrastructure. The RIDMP is part of the SADC Infrastructure Vision 2027, of which transport is one of six pillars. The crossing at Kazungula was one of the missing links to realising the North-South Corridor identified under the RIDMP.
The Kazungula Bridge is central to the corridor as it will ease high volumes of traffic in the region,facilitate trade, spur economic growth in the area and beyond, and help prepare the SADC region for the predicted population growth of 72 million people by 2027.
Identified as a key project under SADC’s regional development plan, the bridge is now spearheaded by the Botswana and Zambian governments. It entails replacing the Kazungula ferry with a 930m road and rail bridge, with one-stop border posts for either direction.
South African truck driver, Johannes Labuschagne, who has been crossing the border for seven years to transport copper from Zambia to South Africa, says the project is an exciting initiative. His biggest challenge had been with broken down ferries. When this happened, it regularly caused 5km of queuing traffic, resulting in massive delays for truck drivers like him.
“We, as a transporter, feel the greatest burden because when you are supposed to do two loads a month, you can only do one load a month. So your turnover is cut in half,” says Labuschagne.
He particularly looks forward to the introduction of the one-stop border posts: “Once (your truck) is cleared, you drive straight across, stamp your passport and you are off to the client. So that is going to be a big bonus for us.”
A one-stop border post will be placed on both sides of the bridge so that drivers stop only once at their point of exit/entry. After clearing customs the driver drives straight through to the next country.
This eliminates duplication of processes and reduces time, thereby increasing vehicle and crew utilisation. The bridge, which is estimated to cost USD 259.3 million, is jointly funded by the Botswana and Zambian governments and expected to be completed by 2018.
Zambian President Edgar Lungu, on a visit to Kazungula in February 2017 to check on the progress of the bridge, said: “If Zambia and Botswana succeed, there will be more trade in the region and beyond.”
The project, President Lungu said, was not just for Botswana and Zambia. “It is intended to invite and excite investment from outside so that Africans can begin to trade among themselves,” he said.
Construction of the Kazungula Bridge has already created jobs and skill-learning opportunities. A mobile training unit was set up in 2013 on the Botswana side to train the semi-skilled artisans needed for the construction of the Kazungula Bridge and other infrastructure projects.
Funded by the Botswana Ministry of Transport and Communications, the unit trained more than 700 semi-skilled artisans; including bricklayers, tilers and carpenters. Botswana President Ian Khama proudly noted that two-thirds of those trained by the unit had been able to secure jobs.
This was also observed by SADC Tripartite Transport and Transit Facilitation Programme Adviser, Lovemore Bingandadi: “The bridge construction has created new economic opportunities for locals and major construction firms. Opening the bridge will certainly advance trade and transport facilitation.”
Another immediate benefit of the project was the successful resettlement of Botswana villagers to nearby Lumbo. Their community has seen exponential growth since over USD 4 million were invested to resettle the village and reimburse those affected. Once next to the main road leading to the border post, the village is now a few kilometres away.
Lumbo village elder Grace Mwashekabo remembers when they had to fetch water from the Zambezi River and some lived in mud houses. Today, the 34 families in the new village enjoy their new houses, electricity, running water and a school. “We are well settled here, better than where we were,” says Mwashekabo.
Some villagers have also been employed as workers by the Kazungula Bridge project. And many women in the area are informal traders who are selling to the high number of people crossing the Zambezi River on a daily basis. When the bridge is completed, the expected increase in traffic will mean more potential customers for them as well.
The iconic bridge stands as a monument to regional integration as it is more than a physical link between two countries,” says Bingandadi. “It’s a conduit for trade, transportation and movement of people.
Construction workers at the Kazungula border post are doing more than building a bridge over a river – they are building a bridge for regional integration with the promise of greater economic growth.

SADC Protocol:
Improved trade is fundamental to regional integration. To this end, the Protocol on Trade was signed in 1996 in order to liberalise trade within SADC, reduce barriers between nations, and stimulate production and economic development. Over the years this led to the elimination of tariff barriers, and export and import duties, culminating in the establishment of the SADC Free Trade Area.