Chronicle Editor
SADC’S main objectives are to achieve economic development, peace and security, and growth; alleviate poverty, enhance the standard and quality of life of the peoples of the region, and support the socially disadvantaged through regional integration.
The bloc, in terms of Article 5 of the Sadc Treaty, seeks to:
“Evolve common political values, systems and institutions, promote and defend peace and security, promote self-sustaining development on the basis of collective self-reliance, and the inter-dependence of member states, achieve complementarity between national and regional strategies and programmes, promote and maximise productive employment and utilisation of resources of the region, achieve sustainable utilisation of natural resources and effective protection of the environment and strengthen and consolidate the long-standing historical, social and cultural affinities and links among the people of the bloc.”
It is clear from the foregoing that, yes, member states work internally to fight poverty, promote socio-economic development of their citizens and so on, but the bloc also emphasises inter-country collaboration for the common good.
And that collaboration cannot be successful if member states are not integrated in the multiple interpretations of regional integration — removal of trade barriers, visa-free travel by citizens of member states, common passport, common currency and integration in the physical infrastructure sense.
Electricity generated at Kariba Dam or Cahora Bassa dams being bought and sold at a common tariff through the Southern African Power Pool and used across the region. Similar road signage across the zone. Beitbridge Water Treatment Works setting aside 15 million cubic metres of its 35 million cubic metre capacity to supply Musina Municipality just across the border in South Africa.
To entrench that regional integration, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana are finalising negotiations towards an upgrade of the railway line from Beira, through Zimbabwe into Botswana. They are also in talks that we expect will lead into another project of like nature — building of a 1 700km line from an envisaged deepwater port at Techobanine in Mozambique into central Botswana. Coal would be the main commodity to be moved on the link from Botswana to Mozambique for export to markets across the globe.
The proposed route and the deepwater port will, indeed, be crucial, not just in promoting integration of Sadc, but also in growing the economies of our three nations. We foresee scores of jobs being created at the various phases of the projects from feasibility studies as well as its construction and operation. We foresee many companies in the three nations securing contracts to work on the projects. We, too, foresee hundreds of millions in procurement breathing new life into the three economies.
While coal will be the target cargo, other commodities will obviously be moved on the railway line as well. This widens alternatives for importers and exporters who have traditionally used the route through Forbes or Chikwalakwala.
These three projects to upgrade the existing railway line and build a new one linking our three countries; and build the deepwater port at Techobanine must be prioritised and quickly move off the drawing board to the ground.
Online Reporter