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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter

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.

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 corridor 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poor border management and service delivery at borders posts, vehicle congestion, poor process flows, inadequate and outdated infrastructure, poor communication between private and public sectors, and disregard for regional imperatives and the regional impact of local and national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.-@KazungaOliver