THE Sadc Business Council (SBC) has called for urgent development of a corridor management institution to tackle impediments at border posts hindering trade flows on the region’s North-South Corridor (NSC).
The corridor, which connects the South African port of Durban to Lusaka, Zambia, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and to Lilongwe and Blantyre in Malawi, through Johannesburg (South Africa), Botswana, and Zimbabwe, is a vital link for trade and the sustenance of Sadc regional integration.
“The SBC has proposed the urgent establishment of a corridor management institution, which will deal with impediments at border posts that are stifling trade flows on the region’s North South Corridor (NSC),” said Sadc in a statement.
SBC is an umbrella body for the private sector comprising national top bodies of the private sectors of each of the 16 Sadc member states.
Factors contributing to the high costs of trade on the NSC include poor border management and service delivery at borders posts, vehicle congestion, poor process flows, inadequate and outdated infrastructure, poor communication between private and public sectors, and disregard for regional imperatives and the regional impact of local and national decisions.
Statistics show that between October 25, 2020 and March 16 this year, total delays at the five borders along the NSC came to 16,4 million hours and cost US$330 million.
It is believed that the proposed corridor management institution will facilitate the improvement of infrastructure, align processes at the border posts, harmonise regulations, improve inefficiencies to speed up trade, and deepen regional integration along the NSC.
The proposal follows this week’s virtual dialogue on Coordinated Border Management Policy Management for Enhanced Trade Facilitation hosted under the Sadc Dialogue Facility (SDF).
During the engagement, Nepad Business Foundation chief executive officer, Mr Peter Varndell, said the corridor management institution would facilitate improvement of infrastructure, align processes at the border posts and harmonise regulations.
It will also improve inefficiencies to speed up trade and deepen regional integration along the NSC, he said.
SDF is a European Union (EU) financed programme that seeks to contribute to the Sadc regional integration agenda by supporting effective policy dialogues around key thematic areas of importance to that agenda.
Such policy dialogues have been recognised as an essential part in policy-making and effective implementation of regional integration.
Mr Varndell said the priorities of an interim CMI would include developing a database of the NSC stakeholders and engaging with “hot spot” stakeholders to facilitate resolutions to challenges at the border posts.
“There is also a need to engage all governments along the NSC for a review of the draft 2009 Memorandum of Understanding on the corridor, as after 12 years, this MoU has yet to be approved,” he said.
“A review of the MoU will include private sector participation at every level, integration of the numerous initiatives on the NSC, address immediate crisis areas, fast-track soft and hard infrastructure upgrades across the region . . . and synergise the work of all agencies working on the NSC.”
Senior programme officer and head of customs unit in the Sadc secretariat, Mr Alcides Monteiro, said congestion at border posts in the region is caused mainly by lack of coordination among border agents and poor infrastructure.