World Report

Private sector help is improving Zambia’s vital transport infrastructure

ubstantial inward investment is needed to finance the improvements in transport infrastructure that Zambia needs in order to promote economic and social development, export potential and regional integration.

Zambian motorists pay a fuel tax to support the National Road Fund

Projects such as the new £5 million Katima Mulilo bridge linking Zambia and Namibia across the Zambezi River, are only possible with outside funding, in this case mostly provided by the German government, which also paid to upgrade 125 miles of road to Livingstone, near the Victoria Falls. The new bridge, opened in May, will facilitate a huge boost to regional trade between Namibia, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Upgrading Zambia’s dilapidated road network is vital to the economic development of both the country and the region as a whole in view of Zambia’s landlocked nature. “You cannot talk about development without a good road network,” says Ludwig Sondashi, Minister of Works and Supply. “No sector can perform without mobility of goods and services.”

Phase I of a multi-million dollar medium term Road Sector Investment Programme (ROADSIP) was completed last year and Phase II has started, funded by the government, road users and cooperating partners, including the World Bank.
The government has approved the build-operate-transfer (BOT) method of financing and administering infrastructure through Public Private Partnership initiatives (PPPs). “We want to attract private companies to come and invest,” says Mr Sondashi. “This programme is under way and we expect to be able to get most of our roads tarred and improved.”

Last year saw the concessioning of Zambia’s railway network to a South African-led partnership. A consortium, comprising New Limpopo Bridge Projects Investments, South Africa’s national railway operator Spoornet and the Canadian consultancy Canarail, will operate and upgrade the system over the next 20 years investing a total of £44.5 million.

The move brings the dream that Zambia could become the main freight hub for the whole of Southern Africa a step closer to reality. The Zambian network connects to the mineral-rich south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and has access through neighbouring railways to ports such as Dar es Salaam, Beira, Maputo and ports in South Africa. In addition to freight services to and from the Copperbelt, the consortium will operate a limited inter-city passenger service between Livingstone, Lusaka and Kitwe.

The government has also approved private sector participation in the running of the Tanzania-Zambia Railways Authority (TAZARA). The 1,155 miles of track that the authority operates from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Kapri Mposhi in Zambia is a gateway to the Southern, Central, and East Africa business markets, covering both the SADC and COMESA regions.