Study finds Swaziland has highest transport costs

JAMES HALL MBABANE – It’s official. Swaziland has the highest transportation costs in the southern African region, a study compiled by the southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub revealed last week. “While studying the effects of (trade agreements), they came to Swaziland where we learnt what many businesses here already know - that transportation costs are higher than in most other areas in the region,” said Lewis Lucke, ambassador to Swaziland from the United States. The report was compiled in partnership with the Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority (SIPA). SIPA wanted to know the reasons behind the slow rate of investment in the country. The study found that rail costs were considered high because goods and raw material entering and exiting the landlocked country had to contend with rail charges imposed by Mozambique or South Africa. Airfreight exists only marginally in the country. Road freight charges are also relatively higher than in other SADC countries, the study found. “There is a need to consider immediate strategies for improving the transport and logistic systems detailed in the transportation study,” said Lucke. SIPA’s own consultants recently reported that the investment authority’s efforts to stream the entry of new investors were being undermined by a hidebound or recalcitrant bureaucracy of involved government ministries.