4 April 2011
HIGH-RANKING government officials and businesspeople from Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia met in Lubumbashi in the DRC last month to discuss the development of the Lubumbashi Corridor as a new alternative trade route for exporters and importers operating in the three countries, Walvis Bay Corridor’s marketing and communications officer, Agnetha Mouton, said on Friday.
She said the meeting discussed various matters on how best to utilise and improve the trade efficiency of the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor by using the port of Walvis Bay.
“Some improvements on the Zambian part of the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor includes the establishment of a complete new state-of-the-art border facility which will reduce border transit and time at Kasumbulesa, the rehabilitation of the Livingstone-Zimba road, and the construction of a new weighbridge at Livingstone. On the DRC part, a new road has been constructed at Kasumbulesa and Lubumbashi, as well as the extension of visas for commercial truck drivers,” said Mouton.
The benefits that were particularly emphasised at the meeting included a short, safe and congestion-free-trade route that the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor has to offer, which is clearly imperative for importers and exporters using this trade route between the three countries.
“With the DRC on board, more progressive and effective expansion on trade along this route will enhance growth for DRC, Namibia and Zambia. Furthermore, additional shipping lines calling at the port of Walvis Bay has added tremendous value to the route.
“The increase in copper exports from the Copperbelt in Zambia and the DRC has resulted in an increase in return loads, which has translated into the reduction of transport costs. Commodities along this trade route include the import of raw materials such as ammonium nitrate and flocculant used in the mining activities on the Copperbelt and the North-Western Province in Zambia,” said Mouton.
The Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor trade route covers a distance of 2 600 kilometres from the port of Walvis Bay to Lubumbashi. — Nampa
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