Africa-Press – Botswana. The Minister of Transport and Public Works, Mr Eric Molale, says investment in road infrastructure is critical to promoting African trade and economy.
He said this during the European Union (EU) chief diplomat, Mr Josep Borrell’s visit to the Tlokweng Weighbridge on Saturday.
The visit was meant to appreciate the milestones achieved by the Tripartite Transport and Transit Facilitation Programme (TTTFP) funded by the EU to the value of over P250 million.
The SADC Secretariat is coordinating the implementation of the project on behalf of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC) and SADC. Mr Molale said the project was a sign of bigger things to come, which would eventually remove obstacles in border posts logistics and promote trade in the continent.
“We want to improve on the efficient movement of goods and services across Africa. We want to not only start trade facilitation but grow trade across Africa something which is not only happening at one would desire. We want to grow the African economy integrating Africa as a continent so that it becomes a powerful force in the world space,” he said.
Mr Molale said Botswana was mandated to partake in the world space, hence the construction of the Trans Kalahari Corridor stretching 700km across the Kalahari Desert to connect the Port of Maputo and Walvis Bay.
He said government had just concluded the Kazungula Bridge project which had opened up trade from Durban Port Elizabeth and Cape Town across the whole region to Lubumbashi in the DRC.
“We are proud as government and its people that we are seriously partaking in this project and will continue no matter the cost because we believe as Botswana we must play a role in trade facilitation across Africa,” he added.
Also, he said government would continue to value assistance that the regional bloc was getting from EU and other partner countries.
For his part, Mr Borrell said investment in road infrastructure such as weighbridges would harmonise old regulations and was vital in prosperity for the region.
He said he was glad that the African Union (AU) was looking into scaling up the TTTFP to harmonise the transport sector to continental level. “It is a great idea and shows right ambition and if it becomes a reality we will be providing further support to this process. We believe citizens from all member states will benefit and improve livelihoods and generations to come,” he said.
Giving a brief impact of the TTTFP and the harmonised Vehicle Load Management Strategy (VLMS) and the Corridor Trip Monitoring System (CTMS), SADC deputy executive secretary for regional integration, Ms Angele N’tumba said the VLM agreement was adopted by the tripartite ministers of infrastructure and cleared by the tripartite ministers of legal affairs following negotiations amongst member states.
She said road transport was critical to regional integration and trade, adding the Eastern and Southern Africa 80 per cent of cross border trade was moved by road transport.
“To ensure connectivity between production centres such as mines, commercial farms and factories and connection between countries member states have invested heavily into road infrastructure,” she said.
Furthermore, Ms N’tumba said since trucks moved along regional trade and transport corridors a regional VLMA was needed to ensure that member states adopted and implemented harmonised standards and laws to protect both the domestic and regional road infrastructure.
She said CTMS had been piloted in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe on the North-South corridor, Trans Kalahari corridor and the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi corridor.
Meanwhile, TTTFP is mandated to develop and facilitate the implementation by member states of vehicle load management strategy which is important for the protection of road infrastructure and promotion of road safety.
The Tlokweng weighbridge is considered an important gateway on the Trans Kalahari corridor (TKC) linking South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia to Walvis Bay Port.
The TKC together with the Maputo development corridor have been identified as priority corridors under the EU Global Gateway strategy.
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