Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino
Zimpapers Politics Hub
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the World Bank have outlined plans for a SMART Integrated Economic Corridors initiative aimed at integrating infrastructure development and industrialisation within a multisectoral and multidimensional framework.
The new development plan comes after yesterday’s meeting between SADC executive secretary Mr Elias Magosi and the World Bank’s acting vice president for Eastern and Southern Africa Dr Amit Dar in Washington, USA.
Through the initiative, focus will be on the North-South Corridor that will serve as a blueprint for replication across other key corridors in the region.
In the energy sector, Mr Magosi and Dr Dar also discussed the importance of the Regional Energy Transmission, Trade, and Decarbonisation Project (RETRADE), the successor to the Accelerating Regional Energy/Transformational Projects (AREP).
RETRADE, approved in January this year, aims to enhance regional electricity trade, bolster climate resilience, and expand renewable energy capacity across Southern Africa with a US$1,26 billion financial allocation.
