One of the most concrete signs of SADC’s shift toward soft infrastructure is emerging in Mozambique, which has launched a World Bank-supported project to transform key border posts into fully fledged one-stop border posts (OSBPs) and implement an integrated customs data-sharing system.
Transport corridor consultant Lovemore Bingandadi said the country had recently issued terms of reference for a consultancy to develop and operationalise the system.
“That system will cover Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe and will be implemented at all six OSBPs that Mozambique is working on,” he said, listing key border posts such as Nyamapanda/Machipanda, Ressano Garcia/Komatipoort, Zobue/Mwanza, Mandimba/Chiponde and Milange/Mulanje. Mutual recognition agreements and the legal basis for data exchange will form part of the project. “Member states are late, but they are now achieving some of the original goals,” he added, pointing to multiple agreements Mozambique had already signed with Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa on coordinated corridor development and OSBP design.
The same pattern is emerging on other corridors. On the North-South Corridor, which carries more than 60% of regional traffic, OSBPs at Kazungula and Chirundu are already operational, while a SADC-led project is under way to address bottlenecks at Kasumbalesa on the Zambia-DRC border and three satellite posts – Sakania, Kipushi and a third inland crossing.
From the private-sector side there is strong support for prioritising ‘soft’ interventions over new construction.
Desiderio Fernandes, president of the Federation of Clearing and Forwarding Associations of Southern Africa (FCFASA), warned that many so-called one-stop border posts were little more than “straddle border posts”, with processes still duplicated on either side. “At the moment, we are building bigger storage yards for trucks and moving the problem from point A to separate points B and C,” he said. Until data exchange and single-window systems are in place, hard infrastructure alone will not resolve delays.
He argued that tackling soft infrastructure first would be more cost effective and would ensure that any new facilities were built for purpose. Basic data sharing – such as shipping details, commodity values and descriptions, vehicle and driver information – was all public information that was already exchanged manually at every border, he stressed. “If we start with that low-hanging fruit, it will actually make the building of one-stop border posts more efficient, more effective and more cost-effective.”
Bingandadi agreed that earlier approaches had put the cart before the horse. “Previously we were starting on the infrastructure side and only then asking questions about soft infrastructure and nothing was happening. Things are happening now.”
