SA now needs to co-operate,
writes Leonard Neill
CUSTOMS OFFICE hours at the Namibia/Botswana border of the Trans Kalahari Highway are to be extended from October 1 this year in what transport operators in both countries have described as a major breakthrough.
Now it's a matter of getting the South African authorities to agree to the same on their side of the highway and we are working on that, says Frank Gschwender, business development executive of the Walvis Bay Corridor Group.
The Namibia/Botswana offices will stay open until midnight from October, with the present closing time of 10pm in force until then.
It will be a crucial improvement as it will allow transport operators to load their trucks in Windhoek during the day and still pass the border and use the night time for driving, says Gschwender. Similarly it makes return trips more flexible. The changes were announced at a meeting of the Trans Kalahari Planning Committee (TKPC) last week.
The setting up of this committee, with representatives from Namibia, Botswana and South Africa is another milestone in the Corridor development, he says. It comes at the completion of the deepening of the port of Walvis Bay and the introduction of the new direct shipping service from Europe to Walvis Bay by Maritime Carrier Shipping (MACS) which started at the end of May.
What made this gathering valuable to us is the fact that a representative of the Botswana delegation termed the highway 'an asset that needs to be utilised for the benefit of the region' and also referred to Walvis Bay as 'our port'.
It shows the value of these initiatives and with that country's co-operation we will get somewhere in sorting out the problems along the route, including the fencing and the malpractices among government officials.
To root out this latter problem a close co-operation between government and the private sector was agreed upon in order to report, identify and follow up concrete malpractices. Botswana plans to increase transparency by setting up comment boxes at borders, telephonic hotlines, and installing an anti-corruption office.
The next TKPC meeting is scheduled for November when representatives from Mozambique are expected to attend to make it a complete coast-to-coast group.
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