Work begins on vital Zambian link

Leonard Neill
WORK WILL commence in October on the building of the Sesheke bridge crossing the Namibia-Zambia border at Katima Mulelo which, when completed in about 18 months, will add a vital new link to the TransCaprivi Highway system.
“We received an enthusiastic response from both the mining and general business community on the Zambian copperbelt when a delegation of our people and of Namport visited them recently,” says Frank Gschwender, business development executive of the Walvis Bay Corridor Group.
“We are looking ahead to when the bridge is completed and then the highway onwards to Livingstone is fully upgraded, which will provide a valuable new outlet for the Zambian community. Currently they are having to travel either via Botswana or Zimbabwe to get their goods to Walvis Bay. The current time taken is between five and seven days, and we don’t expect that to decrease to any extent when the bridge is opened, but it will cut down additional costs by avoiding the customs posts of the other countries and their road levies.”
One sector which is eagerly awaiting the new routing according to Gschwender, is the Zambian textile industry which is set to benefit from the AGOA agreement. Transportation by trucks across the Sesheke bridge will offer them considerable reduction in costs.