Austin Kaluba
15 June 2004
opinion
GOOD political relationship between neighbouring countries is one of the recipes for development of shared infrastructure like roads and bridges.
This has manifested itself in three bridges and one road, shared by Zambia and its neighbours; Chembe bridge - Zambia/DR Congo, Chirundu bridge - Zambia/Zimbabwe, Kazungula bridge - Zambia/Botswana, Katima Mulilo - Zambia/Namibia and the Pedicle road - Zambia/DR Congo.
The restructuring of all these bridges have one thing in common- lengthy negotiations between the concerned countries largely to do with politics and mistrust.
Fortunately, the Katima Mulilo bridge which till recently was a dream like the Cape to Cairo railway line that Cecil Rhodes mooted has become a reality.
The radical project had been on and off for many years with stakeholders from Zambia and Namibia getting back to the drawing board from time to time.
The remaining structures - Chembe bridge, Kazungula bridge and the Pedicle road also need a more realistic approach or they will remain perennially on the drawing boards.
Negotiations for the restructuring of the Chembe bridge have been on the drawing board for 30 years while for Kazungula bridges talks have been going on for 25 years.
Moomba Member of Parliament Vitalis Mooya who had been in charge of the Katima Mulilo bridge from its initial stage in 1994-1998 said infrastructure that are shared by two or more countries needed a lot of commitment to work on.
Mr Mooya who is an engineer said the completion of the Katima Mulilo bridge was made possible by the commitment from the two governments, Zambia and Namibia.
He said the time he worked in Government for 31 years serving as civil engineer in the Ministry of Works and Supply, later as deputy director for planning in Lusaka and finally as had opened him to reality on completion of structures that are shared by different countries.
He described the construction of the Katima Mulilo bridge as a historical project because of the number of years and negotiations it had taken to make it a reality.
Mr Mooya thanked the Namibian government, the Zambian Government, the African Development Grant and the Namibian Foundation.
"It is heartening to note that Namibia even rejected the suggestions that the two countries should share half of the bridge each by allowing a large part of the bridge to be on the Zambian side," he said.
Mr Mooya also thanked former ministers of Works and Supply Lieutenant-General Christon Tembo, Simon Zukas, Keli Walubita, Andrew Kashita for their efforts in initial stages of the project.
He also commended Works and Supply Minister Ludwig Sondashi, former permanent secretary at the same ministry Xavier Mufwaya, Sesheke MP Inonge Wina and many others for the support.
He notes that the proposal to construct a bridge to link Zambia and Namibia was made by the 3rd session of the Zambia-Namibia Joint Permanent Commission which was held in Zambia from 13-16 June, 1994.
In July the same year, the Zambia-Namibia technical steering committee was instituted and agreed to engage Zambian and Namibian consultants to carry out a preliminary engineering design study of the proposed bridge so that the construction costs of the infrastructure could be determined as well as identify a donor to fund the project.
On October 9, 1995, a meeting was held to review progress made and evaluation of bids. The contracts award exercise had already been completed and VKE of Namibia were the main consultant while Zambia's ZMCK were the sub-consultant for the preliminary engineering design study for the Katima Mulilo bridge.
It took several daunting meetings for the two countries to have a mutual agreement and find a donor with relaxed terms who would finance the project.
The German Government offered to finance the project through a grant of U$34 million.
It is in this regard that Mr Mooya views commissioning of the bridge and the Livingstone - Sesheke road as a dream come true.
Mr Mooya says he was glad that the bridge has finally been opened to the public after many years of negotiations and consultations with his Namibian counterparts and foreign donors.
He was country co-ordinator for Zambia during negotiations for construction of the Katima Mulilo bridge about 10 years ago.
"I am very happy because the project during the initial stages was considered as not viable and because such transport infrastructure in the past was biased towards South Africa but we proved that it was viable and there it is, although initial stages of such projects take time," he said.
He commended successive Government representatives, especially at the Ministry of Works and Supply for their leadership leading to commissioning of the bridge.
"There is skilled manpower in the Ministry of Works and Supply but we also need some capacity building and adequate funding for the engineers," Mr Mooya said.
He vividly recalls how he used to trot between Lusaka and Windhoek with then Cabinet ministers such as Gen Tembo, Mr Zukas, Mr Walubita and Mr Kashita for meetings that paved way for the construction of the bridge.
"Commissioning of Katima Mulilo bridge is like a dream come true for me because I was directly involved from its preliminary design which Namibia funded through a loan from the Africa Development Bank.
"The Namibians should be applauded for the fact that they were co-operative and agreed to the option that the bridge should lie on the Zambian soil and that Zambia should be the sole authority for the bridge.
"We knew that the bridge would open up a route for Zambian transporters and businessmen to many destinations in the region and the world at large and we were especially aware of the economic development that the bridge would bring to the area," he said.
Mr Mooya recalls how daunting it was for the two countries to choose the best possible option for financing and location of the bridge because Zambia was cash-strapped while Namibia had the funding.
"We had six options for the location of the bridge but Namibia finally agreed to have the site on the Zambian side and it has been constructed to the best standards.
The hydrological and geological investigations proved that it cannot be washed away and the probability of such a calamity or overtoppling is not there at all," he said.
The construction of the bridge was possible because there was little politicking that characterises such joint ventures between the two countries.
If the same approach is used, other infrastructure like roads and bridges shared by Zambia and its neighbours will be completed in the shortest possible time.
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