afrol News, 16 November - Zambia being "the most central country in the region," the country needed to strengthen its infrastructure, the Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said in Lusaka. Both Zambia's relative poor infrastructure and poorly operating border posts are currently hindering regional integration.

SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Augusto Salomão termed himself diplomatically when meeting the press on the last day of his two-day visit to Zambia. The message, nevertheless, came out clearly: Zambia needs to invest in its infrastructure to further the north-south and east-west transport of people and goods in the deepening economic union.

Zambia was "the most central country in the region" and "could serve as a link for the whole region in terms of communications," Mr Salomão told Zambian journalists in Lusaka. For that to become a fact, however, large investments were needed.

The SADC Executive Secretary noted that major infrastructural developments like the Kazungula bridge (between Botswana and Zambia), the route to Nacala (via Malawi to the Mozambican coast), the railway system to Lobito (Angola) and the Walvis Bay (Namibia) "have to be in place in order to facilitate the free movement of people, goods and services in the region."

All the infrastructure projects Mr Salomão referred to are long-running regional projects that have achieved partial funding from a large number of donors. Progress on these corridors, in particular the railway connections, has however been slow.

Mr Salomão further explained the need for Zambia to "loosen barriers to smooth operations at border posts as the current situation of spending hours trying to cross the borders inhibits SADC's goal of free trade area by 2008."

The SADC Executive also noted that Zambia, like the rest of the region, is currently experiencing drought, adding that it was "imperative for the region to devise measures aimed at curbing the drought situation in the region."

As a result of the poor production of food crops, vulnerability assessments conducted in April and May had indicated that some 9.71 million people will need food assistance in the following SADC member states: Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Mr Salomão noted. He however drew no lines between necessary infrastructure investments and the food crisis.

Mr Salomão was on a two day visit to Zambia where he had not only gone to introduce himself as the new SADC Executive Secretary but to exchange ideas with Zambia on the implementation of SADC programmes and projects at both the regional and national levels. In Lusaka, he paid a courtesy call to President Levy Mwanawasa and several ministers. Mr Salomão assumed duties on 1 September.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories