Action plan addresses Beitbridge border issues

An action plan to address the numerous issues and problems at the Beitbridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe has finally been drawn up and is to be circulated to stakeholders. Beitbridge has been under severe pressure for years. According to Barney Curtis, executive director of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations, after much investigation a six-page document on the problems and the potential solutions for Beit Bridge was drawn up and circulated among all the stakeholders to ensure it covered all issues. “We asked the Regional Trade Facilitation Programme to facilitate and fund a workshop earlier this year where we brought on board as many of the high-level stakeholders from both countries as possible,” says Curtis. “SADC was also asked to participate and it then endorsed and adopted this process.” A contractor was appointed to do a situational analysis of the border post (infrastructure, procedures, bridges etc) and a task team was set up. “We now have an action plan which describes the way of taking the border post forward, and includes plans for a one-stop border post. It is in the process of being circulated to the stakeholders before it is finalised and implemented.”