Trimming Down Bottlenecks along Trade Route
from left to right (back row): Johny Smith (CEO of the WBCG); Mr Donat Mugangu (Co-Chair of the WBNLDC – DRC); Mr Phillip Amunyela (Co-Chair of the WBNLDC – Namibia); Mr Barrytone Kaambwe (Co-Chair of the WBNLDC – Zambia)
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Namibia and Zambia recently held discussions during a three-day meeting of the tripartite Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Technical Committee (WBNLDC) which was held recently in Walvis Bay, Namibia. The meeting aimed to follow up on and discuss the WBNLDC action plan with reference to customs, immigration, road infrastructure, dry ports and veterinary issues, to speed up the implementation of the measures that will ease cross border movement of goods and services along the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor (WBNLC – formerly known as the Trans Caprivi Corridor) and to share the outcomes of the road safety and security studies that was done along this trade route. The meeting was attended by representatives of the public and private sector from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Namibia and Republic of Zambia. Mr Phillip Amunyela, the Co-Chair of the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor Development Committee (WBNLDC) represents Namibia and led the Namibian delegation and chaired the meeting; Mr Donat Mugangu, the Co-Chair of the WBNLDC represents DRC and led the DRC delegation and Mr Barrytone Kaambwe, the Co-Chair of the WBNLDC represents Zambia and led the Zambian delegation. The highlights of the discussion included the consideration of the extension of border operating hours to 22h00 in the member states to accommodate the increased traffic at the Katima Mulilo and Kasumbalesa border posts; DRC to harmonise its axle load limits in alignment with Namibia and Zambia; the construction for the strengthening and the widening of the Divundu bridge is expected to commence by September 2010; the Namibian government to expedite the legislating process of the One-Stop-Border-Post between Namibia and Zambia; among others. With the DRC on board to the newly formed tripartite WBNLD Committee, which extends the previous Trans Caprivi Corridor to the WBNL Corridor, to include the DRC, more progressive and effective expansion on trade along this route will enhance further economic growth for all three countries, the DRC, Namibia and Zambia which traverse along this corridor. Commodities such as copper, vehicles, frozen meat, frozen chicken and other consumables are transported along this route. The purpose of the WBNLD Committee, for which the Walvis Bay Corridor Group serves as the interim secretariat, is for the three countries, namely the DRC, Namibia, and Zambia, along which the Walvis Bay Corridors traverse, to bring together their systems and procedures so that bottlenecks that adversely affect the flow of goods are reduced which translates into the reduction of transport costs.
