Mozambique:Nyusi in Zambia for Kazungula Bridge opening

By Jorge Joaquim

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi is among regional leaders who have been invited to the official opening of Kazungula Bridge, on Monday, 10 May. The 923m long infrastructure is located at the border between Botswana and Zambia on the Zambezi River at Kazungula.

The regional ceremony includes the inauguration of the Border Post facilities, linking Zambia and Botswana.

The inauguration of the infrastructure will mark a giant step towards the operationalization of the SADC North-South corridor, by facilitating access to international markets through connectivity with the main maritime ports of the region, according to a statement from the Mozambican presidency seen by Pan African Visions.

The North-South Corridor (NSC) is a key trade route in Africa. It is approximately

2800km long stretching from the mining region of Lubumbashi in the Democratic

Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the port city of Durban in South Africa. Along the way

it passes though the Copperbelt (Zambia’s industrial heartland) and Gaborone, the

capital of Botswana. With spillover effects, the corridor further integrates Namibia,

Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Eswatini.

The NSC is primarily road-based and the Kazungula crossing point at the Zambezi

River at a confluence between Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia was a

critical bottleneck that prevented the efficient flow of goods due to the lack of a

bridge across the river (a ferry was being used instead).

The development of a Bridge at the crossing was an opportunity to increase the

capacity and speed of transit and also introduce an alternative mobility mode:

railway transportation.

On this trip for Kazungula Bridge opening, Filipe Nyusi is accompanied by the Foreign Affairs minister Verónica Macamo Ndlovu and officials from the Presidency of the Republic and other State institutions.