Excitement is mounting over when exactly the Kazungula Bridge will officially open after information surfaced on social media showing that it’s practically and structurally complete, with the exception of “finishing touches” that remain outstanding.
The $259.3-million project was due for completion by 2018 but payment and labour issues delayed construction.
Situated just south of the town it’s named after, the 923-metre bridge is widely regarded as a game-changing development for freight in and out of the copper belt, and will significantly shorten the time it takes trucks to cross the Zambezi River at its confluence with the Chobe.
Previously trucks travelling between Zambia and Botswana where Namibia and Zimbabwe close in on the west and east had to make use of a ferry service, a slow method that significantly delayed freight on the north-south line.
Mike Fitzmaurice, chief executive of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations, said “construction should be completed in June”.
He added though that no official date had been set and that road hauliers eager to start using the bridge had yet to learn what toll they could expect to pay.
The important hinterland link also comes with one-stop border post (OSBP) facilities on either side of the bridge.
It wouldn’t be the first time intra-African trade in the sub-Saharan region has implemented OSBP-means to speed up freight.
Previously it was implemented at the Chirundu border post between Zambia and Zimbabwe, north east of the Kariba Dam.
Although that Customs experiment started off well, problems with personnel and processes soon caused Chirundu to recede into the corrupt and congested state for which it had become notorious.
As a consequence of mounting cynicism that resulted some years after the Chirundu OSBP was rolled out, road transporters working across the SADC region fear that the one-stop facilities at the Kazungula Bridge could also fail.
