Botswana and Zambia inaugurate a cross-border bridge

Botswana and Zambia inaugurate a cross-border bridge

Derrick Chanda

Botswana and Zambia have inaugurated the opening of a road and rail bridge connecting the two countries. The news marks the conclusion of a multi-million dollar project to alleviate traffic jams at border crossings and increase bilateral trade.

Stretching 923 meters and rising above the Zambezi River, the curved bridge, called Kazungula, provides an alternative route that freight hauliers have long desired. “This will reduce the costs of doing business,” Zambian President Edgar Lungu said on Monday May 10 during the ribbon cutting ceremony, promoting “increased trade and competitiveness, job creation, tourism and other positive chain effects “.

For his part, the president of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, declared that the bridge “will pave the way for better trade”. Masisi then underlined that his country considers Zambia a key strategic partner in the development of the region, specifying that the project symbolizes the continuous growth of mutual relations.

Construction on the $ 259 million project began in December 2014. The work is co-financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), regional governments and other grants. Namibia and Zimbabwe joined the consortium in 2018. The bridge will facilitate regional trade in goods by allowing means of transport to bypass the busy Beitbridge border crossing between Zimbabwe and South Africa. At that point, vehicles spend hours, and sometimes days, queuing to cross the border.

The current president of the African Union (AU), as well as head of state of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, also took part in the inauguration ceremony of the Kazungula bridge. Zambia and the DRC are installing similar works on their border. Others present included the president of the Southern African Development Community, the president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, and the president of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Zambia is a landlocked southern African country with a population of 16.59 million, according to World Bank estimates. After gaining independence from the United Kingdom on 24 October 1964, the nation managed to make a relatively peaceful democratic transition, so much so that the first president, Kenneth Juanda, played a key role in regional diplomatic relations, cooperating with the United States. to try to end conflicts in neighboring states, such as Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia. Not surprisingly, on the occasion of the official visit of the Ambassador of Zambia to the United States, Ngosa Simbyakula, at the White House, on November 29, 2017, President Donald Trump praised the country for being a model of democracy for the entire continent. African. Over the past 10 years, Zambia has experienced rapid economic growth, establishing itself as the second largest producer of copper, after the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Despite this, huge Chinese investments in the area have failed to improve the lives of Zambian citizens, 2/3 of whom still live below the poverty line. According to the United Nations, Zambia has one of the highest population growth rates in the world, which, given the precarious conditions of its citizens and given the increasing arrivals of refugees from the Demographic Republic of Congo, risks facing a humanitarian crisis.

Botswana, on the other hand, one of the most stable countries in Africa, is the continent’s longest continuous multi-party democracy. According to the BBC Country Profile, it is a country where corruption is relatively low and human rights are largely protected. With a population of about 2,304 million inhabitants, Botswana has some of the largest wilderness areas in Africa and tourism, based on strictly controlled and often exclusive safaris, is an important source of income for the country. The South African state is the world’s largest diamond producer and the trade has turned it into a middle-income nation.

Derrick Chanda corrispondente Progetto Radici Lusaka Zambia

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