Trans-Caprivi Corridor

The Trans-Caprivi Corridor links the Port of Walvis Bay with Zambia, the southern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe. The Corridor runs via the former Caprivi Strip in north-eastern Namibia and enters Zambia via the Katima Mulilo bridge, which was completed in 2004. This development added to the existing Trans-Caprivi Highway, which was officially opened in 1999, resulting in the completion of Trans-Caprivi Corridor. The Corridor stretches over 2,500 km, and is supported by a railway line between Walvis Bay and Grootfontein, where transhipment facilities are available. The railway line resumes in Livingstone, Zambia.

The Trans-Caprivi Highway was officially opened in 1999. In May 2004, the bridge over the Zambezi River at Katima Mulilo (Namibia) and Sesheke (Zambia) was completed, which further developed what has now become the Trans-Caprivi Corridor.

Through an initiative by the DRC, Namibian and Zambian Governments, the Trans-Caprivi Corridor Management Committee (also known as the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Committee) was set up in partnership with the private sector. A second regional body, namely the Trans-Caprivi Corridor Cluster Committee, was initiated by the Namibian and Zambian Governments, and supported by UNCTAD’s Capacity-building Programme on Transport and Trade Facilitation for Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries. The private sector was also involved in this partnership. These two Committees together identify and harmonise cross-border standards and address bottlenecks to trade between the Corridor member countries.

UNCTAD’s Capacity-building Programme, set up in 2005, identified the Trans-Caprivi Corridor as a model corridor in Africa, and supported the development of the Corridor’s Cluster Committee. The latter comprises public and private transport representatives, who meet twice a year to address Corridor issues. The Committee aims to replicate the Trans-Kalahari Corridor cross-border facilitation programme for the Trans-Caprivi Corridor.