Zambia's port access plans get on track: new and rehabilitated rail routes are fundamental to SADC plans to make better use of the region's ports. But, as Humphrey Nkonde reports, other transport links are to be upgraded too.

THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN Development Community (SADC) has lined up goals for economic integration in the next 10 years. These are a free trade area by January 2008, a customs union in 2010, a common market by 2015 and monetary union by 2018. These are good ambitions whose realisation heavily rests on infrastructure development and rehabilitation, especially roads and railway lines.

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Infrastructure Development in Support of Regional Integration was the theme for the 27th SADC ordinary summit held in August in Lusaka at which Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa assumed the chairmanship of the regional grouping.

Mr Mwanawasa's chairmanship has come at a time when roads and rail lines have started sprouting out of Zambia to other SADC members. In his speech to the summit Mr Mwanawasa called for development and improvement of cross-border railway lines and roads.

Barely a month after the SADC meeting, President Mwanawasa and his Malawian counterpart Mbingu Wa Mutharika launched the construction of the Chipata-Mchinji Railway line to connect Zambia's Eastern Province to Malawi. The intention is for Zambia to be linked by rail to Mozambique's Port of Nacala through Malawi. The Chipata-Mchinji line would be further extended into Zambia to reach the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) in Mpika in Northern Province. Furthermore, there are intentions by the Zambian government to construct a railway branch from TAZARA in Kasama, the headquarters of the Northern Province, to link Mpulungu, Zambia's only port at the southern tip of Lake Tanganyika.

Once Mpulungu port is connected by rail and the Chipata-Mchinji Railway is completed, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique would be linked to Lake Tanganyika, a waterway that services the DR Congo, Burundi and Tanzania.

Mpulungu port

Mpulungu port handles coffee and tea from Burundi exported to Europe through the SADC region. Zambia's cement, lime and sugar are exported to the Great Lakes region using the same port. Trucks transport imports and exports to Mpulungu port since it is not linked by a railway line. Cement accounts for about 65 per cent of Zambia's exports through Mpulungu port, but the tonnage has reduced due to increased local demand.

Chilanga Cement Plc is presently constructing a US$120mn cement plant in the capital Lusaka. Zambezi Portland is also erecting a US$150mn plant in Ndola, the headquarters of the Copperbelt while Ndola Lime Co, the manufacturer of agricultural and industrial lime, intends to diversify into cement production.

The envisaged branch from TAZARA to Mpulungu port is vital since it would complete the railway connections from Ndola and Lusaka where cement plants are being constructed.

There are also plans by the Zambian government to extend the Zambia Railways line from Chingola on the Copperbelt to North Western Province, where there are fresh mining investments. Lumwana Mine under Canada's Equinox Minerals will soon be producing 169,000 tonnes of copper when production commences next year. Kansanshi Mine, the other mine in North Western Province, is planning to step up copper production, currently standing at 145,000 tonnes per annum.

These heavy loads from North Western Province would require rail transport to the Copperbelt where copper ore from Lumwana would be processed.

The ultimate goal of the extension of the Zambia Railways line to North Western Province is to link it to Angola's Benguela Railway line that leads to Lobito port on the Atlantic Ocean.

Angolan ports are the nearest for landlocked SADC countries in relation to exports destined for Europe and the Americas. Zambia could not use the Angolan railway route in the 1970s due to the civil war waged by slain UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi.

As a result, the Benguela Railway, which is undergoing rehabilitation following the return of peace to Angola, was closed to international trade between 1975 and 1980. This coupled with Ian Douglas Smith's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which resulted in Zambia being blocked from accessing South African ports, contributed to the construction of TAZARA by the Chinese.

Road rehabilitation

In spite of ambitions by Zambia to have railway extensions and branches, a larger part of the national budget is reserved for road rehabilitation. A specific example is this year's budget in which K787bn has been reserved for road rehabilitation while only K8.7bn has been reserved for the construction of the Chipata-Chinji Railway line.

Yusuf Dodia, chairperson of the Private Sector Development Association, says that Zambia's over-dependence on road transport was costly. Mr Dodia says rail transport is faster, cheaper, more reliable and reduces road accidents considerably. He has suggested in his column in the 'Post' newspaper a shift from diesel locomotives to electric ones by electrifying the railway network so that expenses on fuel are reduced.

Another project on paper is the extension of the Zambia Railways line from Mulobezi in Zambia's Western Province into Namibia. Namibia's Walvis Bay port has become cardinal in the trade involving SADC countries, Europe and the Americas following the construction of the Katima Mulilo Bridge across the Zambezi River to link Zambia to Namibia. At the time of writing heavy machinery from the UK destined for Konkola Copper Mines on Zambia's Copperbelt crossed the bridge on an abnormal truck controlled by three drivers.

In spite of the advantages that railway transport to SADC's economic integration, roads and other links are being improved in this dynamic economic bloc. The Roads Development Agency has this year contracted Reubex Contractors to rehabilitate the Solwezi-Mwinilunga route that leads to Angola.

Last year the Export Board of Zambia (now the Zambia Development Agency) took some companies into Angola to explore markets there. It was discovered that Angola needed agricultural seed, mealie meal, flour, animal feed, cassava, detergents, copper rods and cables from Zambia. The drawback was the poor road network between Mwinilunga and Angola's port of Luanda. President Mwanawasa in his August summit in Lusaka stressed the need to improve road and railway connections with Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is a return to peace in Angola while it is only the eastern portion in the DRC that has some problems.

For an improved road network between Zambia's Copperbelt and DRC's Katanga Province, the World Bank has provided US$12mn for the rehabilitation of the Chingola-Kasumbalesa Road. Trucks use that route to transport copper ore to South Africa, Namibia and Zambia from the DRC. On the other hand, the Zambian government has reserved K8.5bn to upgrade the Kashikishi-Luchinda road leading to the DRC border in Luapula Province. China Henan is also constructing a bridge over the Luapula River that forms part of the boundary between Zambia and the DRC.

Bridge building

The bridge, which will replace a pontoon, is on a shorter route between Zambia's Copperbelt and Luapula Province through the DRC and is also linked to the Kashikishi-Luchinda Road. The World Bank has also provided funds for the rehabilitation of the Kafue-Chirundu road that links South Africa to Zambia through Zimbabwe at Chirundu.

The road is being widened by a Chinese contractor. It is at Chirundu border that the Zambian-Zimbabwean governments intend to create a single customs clearing system following complaints by traders and transporters of dual clearance by Zimbabwean and Zambian officers.

But for the purpose of tourism, air transport is cardinal. The SADC region is one of the most beautiful, exotic and diverse destinations in the world.

Zambia, the heart of the SADC, has no intention of reviving a national airline following the liquidation of Zambia Airways. Government's position is to promote the private sector to service domestic and international routes. Zambian Airways is one private airline whose revenue and number of passengers has increased over the years. In 2005, the airline registered an income of US$5.3mn while last year it stood at US$11.5mn. The number of passengers increased from 41,195 in 2005 and last year the airline carried 55,126 passengers.

Air transport is also vital in integrating the islands of Madagascar, Seychelles and Mauritius. South Africa's Interair operates flights to Zambia and Madagascar. Other airlines in South Africa operate flights to other SADC countries. The first step for the SADC countries is to ensure that aviation is cheap so that many people can afford to go to tourist attractions. It was due to expensive aviation fuel that on August 9, 2005 British Airways suspended cargo flights to Europe from Lusaka due to too-expensive jet fuel.

The SADC countries should rehabilitate airstrips in rural areas where there are tourist attractions to boost the tourism sector. In order for the SADC to achieve its goals for regional integration it needs a diversified multi-modal transport system. To lessen over-dependence on the road transport sector, there is a need to rehabilitate railway lines and create new cross-border links. Roads are being created to link SADC member countries, but the next stage is to connect these cross-border links to rural areas to link the farming blocks, tourist attractions and mines.