As a region striving for a greater sense of integration and stronger connections across great geographical distances, Southern Africa needs an efficient transport system to facilitate trade and socioeconomic ties. Currently, Southern Africa’s network of roads, railways, ports, and airways meets the demand of its
people. However, as the region grows and expands, increasing its industrial and economic requirements, use of the transport network will exceed its current capacity.

In fact, according to projections published as part of The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan:

Traffic for landlocked SADC countries will increase to 50 million tonnes by 2030, and is projected to reach 148 million tonnes by 2040. (An annual growth rate of 8.2%), while Port traffic will expand from 92 million tonnes to 500 million tonnes by 2027. In addition, OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, will add two million passengers a year by 2030 and three million a year by 2040.

In order to prepare for a future transportation sector that supports vibrant industrial and social development, SADC has already been working tirelessly across the region to prepare plans and support projects that will help alleviate the increased pressure on Southern Africa’s transport infrastructure.

In addition to identifying a number of key transport ‘corridors’ ripe for development throughout the region SADC has also begun implementing its 1996 Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology
â€" a policy framework with agreements from Member States on sustaining a safe, secure, and reliable transport system in the region.

Connectivity Through Co-Operation
The Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology has been put into place to help advise SADC Member States to promote an integrated, multimodal transport system throughout Southern Africa. It has been established to help maintain efficient, reliable, economically viable, and nvironmentally responsible initiatives.

The success of these cross-border initiatives is best achieved through a harmonised regional policy on transport, with coherent implementation strategies and established frameworks for institutions.

Co-operation between member states is vital in building a transport network aimed at ensuring the free movement of people and goods through the region, particularly from landlocked Member States to seaports located in coastal Member States’ territory and vice-versa.

In order to address these needs and meet the challenges of infrastructural development within the region, SADC released its Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan in 2012.

This Plan focuses on a number of key development priorities, one of which is the creation and implementation of key transport â€˜corridors’ throughout the region.

Since the success of the Maputo Development Corridor, which restores the historic trade route between the landlocked provinces of Gauteng and Mpumalanga in South Africa to the port of Maputo in Mozambique, SADC has applied a similar methodology to other potential development corridors. Its 2012 Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan revealed two other high priority corridors:the Dar-es-Salaam Corridor, and the North-South Corridor from Durban as offering the greatest potential for growth as key hubs for development in the future.

Alongside these two other primary transport corridors, The North South Development corridor connects shipping ports, such as Durban and the Dube Trade Port to areas of industrial productivity. Much of
the infrastructure has been supplied by the private sector through public-private partnerships and user-pays principles. This system has proven effective, enabling road and railway development to commence
where government intervention had previously stagnated.

According to the ICA (Infrastructure Consortium of Africa), “The North-South Corridor Programme is an example of Aid for Trade in action, working to unlock the economic potential of landlocked countries
in southern and eastern Africa.”

The North-South Corridor links the South African port of Durban to the Copperbelt regions of the DRC and Zambia, as well as extending links to Dar-es-Salaam and Malawi.  The corridor aims to enhance transportation through improvements to road, rail and ports, as well as facilitating trade by increasing the power generation and energy trade potential of the Southern African Power Pool with new power generation and transmission investments.

Currently, the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite are committed to speeding up the flow of traded goods and helping reduce the transaction costs of cross-border trade as part of the development of the North-South corridor. This initiative represents an innovative approach to supporting and developing physical infrastructure while also addressing trade facilitation and regulatory needs and deficiencies along the
corridor in a coherent and holistic manner.

Steady progress has been made in establishing the corridor. But major challenges are still being faced. The scope of the opportunity available to not only the countries involved, but the entire region is immense:

With the countries involved â€" Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe â€" covering nearly a third of the continent, and a road network
stretching 8 599km in seven countries, the potential for connecting people, traders and communities across Africa and beyond is truly immense.

Unfortunately, so are the potential costs involved â€" with rehabilitating and maintaining the entire NSC road network to a good standard estimated at US$9.1 billion (of which US$5.9 billion is for capital
investment and US$3.1 billion is recurrent costs), and upgrading 600km of rail is projected to cost US$800m. In addition, upgrading of the priority ports involved, including Dar-es-Salaam is estimated at
US$800m.

In addition to transport infrastructure, plans are in place to upgrade power generation and transmission throughout the region, including Zambia-Tanzania-Kenya Interconnector construction estimated to cost $800m and expected to trade 2,800GW of electric power annually.

Future Developments
While traditionally, transportation corridors rely on ‘hard’ infrastructure, such as roads, railways, and marine waterways, the Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan determined that only 25% of
transport delays occur due to physical infrastructure problems. Almost three quarters (75%) of transport delays are caused by poorly maintained existing infrastructures. Complicated border procedures in
particular and complex customs regulations are responsible for transport interruptions of up to 24 hours, which significantly harm trade throughout the region.

It is for this reason, that SADC’s future development plans are focused on reducing such non-tariff barriers to trade, particularly in the form of disparate border practices. In its Protocol on Trade, SADC recommends the harmonisation of customs practices throughout the region in order to prevent
excessive delays at borders and to allow the region’s trade to flourish, and transport corridors such as the North-South Corridor to become successful.

Implementation of the North-South Corridor programme is currently being coordinated and supervised by the Tripartite Task Force, with technical and financial support from TradeMark Southern Africa â€" a £100million, 5-year Programme funded by DFID that is supporting deeper economic integration of the southern and eastern Africa region.

Mechanisms have been put in place to improve donor co-ordination and co-operation. A forum of donors and international cooperating partners, known as the Tripartite Trust Account and the Friends of the Tripartite has been established. A pipeline of priority projects has been developed and resources,
including technical assistance have been made available to accelerate project preparation.

The Tripartite has also established a dedicated Project Preparation and Implementation Unit to oversee this work.

Future Challenges
Although the transport infrastructure throughout Southern Africa is more established than other infrastructural sectors, challenges remain for the transportation sector.

Presently, most SADC member states maintain dedicated road agencies, while substantial improvements are underway for regional railways and air transport. But, even with Private Sector involvement, funding and technical capacity are lacking for maintenance and rehabilitation of the region’s Roads, Railways, Ports, and Airports. The more populated rural areas still struggle with accessibility, and the development of transport infrastructure and its increased use, can adversely affect
the environment and sustainability.

So not only cooperation, but consideration is needed when developing exciting opportunities like the North-South Corridor. Initially, cooperation will require funding by government; however, the Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology notes that much of the transportation infrastructure should become financially self-sustaining through private sector investment and user-pays principles.

As such, Member States should encourage an environment which allows private sector participation in the creation and implementation of transportation infrastructure projects.

In addition to hard infrastructure issues, trade and customs are also key in turning the North-South Corridor into a regional success story. Efficient border operations and trade agreements are needed to enable the free movement of goods across borders. While all Member States have complied with a
region-wide free trade agreement, only Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland have thus far signed into the Southern African Customs Union.