08 Sep 2014

The governments of Botswana and Zambia signed a contract for the construction of a road/rail bridge across the Zambezi River at Kazungula on September 5 in Livingstone, Zambia. 

Daewoo Engineering and Corporation of South Korea will undertake the project, which is expected to be completed in four years. 

According to a joint press statement released on September 5, the signing of the contract marked a historic and momentous occasion as the people of the two countries had waited for many years.

The close to US$162 million project funded by Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), African Development Bank (ADB), and the two governments of Botswana and Zambia, will reverse the negative effects caused by the absence of a permanent crossing facility at Kazungula, according to the news statement. 

The lack of a permanent crossing facility at Kazunguka posed as a bottleneck to the smooth flow of traffic and hampered full development between the two nations and the SADC region. 

The statement further stated that the construction of the bridge would improve traffic flow and increase easy crossing of various goods and services at Kazungula. The development will also eliminate risks of operating a cumbersome ferry bridge (pontoon). 

Some of the expected benefits of the bridge include the reduction of transit time from 36 hours to two hours, integration of the economies served by the North-South corridor, as well as increased revenue for the two countries. 

The bridge will be 923 meters long and the groundbreaking of the project is scheduled for September.  ENDS