Sesheke Bridge expands potential to landlocked neighbours

LEONARD NEILL
THE COMPLETION of the Sesheke bridge, which crosses the Zambezi to connect Namibia and Zambia, has presented the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (wbcg) with its greatest challenge since the opening of the Trans Kalahari Highway which links Namibia and Botswana with South Africa and particularly the Gauteng industrial region, says wbcg executive director Frank Gschwender.
“The bridge is unique and well constructed,” he says. “It provides the first ever direct link between the two countries, and now challenges us to expand on our transport initiatives to include our northern landlocked neighbours.
“It isn’t only Zambia that comes into the picture. The rapidly developing southern sector of the DRC has also now been given a trunk to the coast of West Africa, and Walvis Bay is clearly the new focal point of both exporters and importers in both countries.
“The Trans Caprivi Corridor is therefore a truly vital link in Southern and Central African developments. Previously movements between these two countries and Namibia had to operate on a testing, circuitous route. Now a single bridge has made it a direct passage for both nations to move goods in rapid time to and from the port.”
The Corridor infrastructure is in excellent condition, says Gschwender. Of the 2100km from Walvis Bay to Lusaka, only about 100km still needs to be upgraded. Now Zambian customs representatives are in consultation with their Namibian counterparts with a view to implementing a one-stop border post concept, simplification of customs procedures, and the introduction of a single administrative document.