Zimbabwe could become “history” in terms of future traffic volumes, says Fesarta’s Mike Fitzmaurice. “Construction of the Kazungula Bridge over the Zambezi river is at an advanced stage. I believe it will be ready in late 2020 or early 2021, which will certainly make a difference to how trade moves into Zambia along the North/ South Corridor,” he explains. Fitzmaurice adds that construction of the OneStop-Border-Post (OSBP) at Kazungula is also quite advanced on the Botswana side. “Land has been cleared and construction has started both in
Botswana and on the Zambian side.” However, Fesarta remains cautiously optimistic. “The OSBP at Chirundu, which was supposed to be the icon OSBP of Africa, has turned out to be its biggest disaster. It still takes in excess of 24 hours to cross that border. What's happening at Chirundu does not conform to OSBP procedures,” Fitzmaurice states. “We are hoping that, once the OSBP is developed between Zambia and Botswana, a high level of cooperation will be achieved between the two countries. This, however, is not guaranteed,” he cautions.
Fitzmaurice says another big development to impact Zimbabwe relates to Zimborders and its contract to rebuild Beitbridge on the Zimbabwe side. “Progress is a bit slow, as anything to do with governments are. But, it is going ahead. Construction has begun on the new admin building,” he confirms. “Looking at the plans, it will be a beautiful border post when finally finished in 2021.” The new facility at Beitbridge will include
dedicated lanes for different types of traffic, as well as dedicated terminals for trucks, buses and passengers. “Traffic will be separated and so things should move a lot quicker,” Fitzmaurice believes. “CONDEP, a privatelyowned concern outside of the border control zone and, in my view, the biggest problem at Beitbridge, will also be done away with.” CONDEP currently facilitates goods
inspections on behalf of Zimra. “That function will become part of Zimra's role within the control zone,” he explains. While improvements at Beitbridge are good news for Zimbabwe, the country is still hampered by the poor condition of its roads, fuel shortages and ongoing police harassment at a number of checkpoints. Forex continues to present a further problem, with any payment made by transporters having to be in US dollars, failing which they are not accepted, and vehicles are impounded. “Transporters would far rather travel through Botswana to get to Zambia than deal with all of these issues,” he laments.
Looking at the plans, it will be a beautiful border post when finally finished in 2021.
