SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT, HONOURABLE DULLAR OMAR, AT THE
SIGNING OF THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE
REPUBLICS OF BOTSWANA, NAMIBIA AND SOUTH AFRICA ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND
MANAGEMENT OF THE TRANS-KALAHARI CORRIDOR (TKC)
3rd November 2003
Honorable Tebelo Seretse, Minister of Transport in
Botswana,
Honorable Dr. Moses Amweelo, Minister of Transport Namibia,
Ambassador Joseph Huggins, U.S. Ambassodor to Botswana,
Mayor of Walvis Bay Municipality, Mr. King Muatunga,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
It gives me great pleasure to be here today in the
beautiful coastal town of Walvis Bay on this auspicious occasion of the
signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Governments of the
Republics of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa on the Development and
management of the Trans-Kalahari corridor.
I am sure that my colleague Honorable Minister Amweelo
will allow me to indicate that our gathering in Walvis Bay symbolizes the
importance of the development of the Trans-Kalahari Corridor and the
centrality of the Port of Namibia as a Western Port for inbound/outbound
trade with the Americas and Europe. This corridor links Namibia, with
Botswana and South Africa by road. In South Africa the Trans-Kalahari
Highway links up with the Platinum Highway and the N4 Maputo Corridor to
complete the West to East Coast road Highway also known as the Coast to
Coast Corridor thereby linking the Ports of Maputo in the East, through
South African and Botswana to this Port of Walvis Bay.
Indeed the road that we all traversed to get to the
signing of this Memorandum of Understanding has almost been as long as the
Trans-Kalahari Highway itself. A hallmark of the journey we traversed are
the consultations that included a wide range of stakeholders in both the
public and private sector of our countries designed and carried out to
ensure that the road ahead is traveled and made easier through the
partnership between Public and Private Stakeholders and role-players.
Indeed, we have had to engage each other in order to
reach common understanding on how best to develop and manage the corridor
for effective development of our region, encompassing both public and
private sector resources and capacity. In this regard, let me pause to
acknowledge the efforts of the USAID and other private role players during
the initial public and private sector consultation phases towards the
development of the MoU and the continued role they will play.
Colleagues, Ladies and Gentleman, the Memorandum of
Understanding that we are about to sign here today, is based on our
countries commitment to the common vision of the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development to eradicate poverty and its transport objectives:
the implementation of integrated and seamless movement of goods and
persons on the Trans-Kalahari Corridor with a view to reduce
transportation costs and transit times. Our success in achieving these
objectives will assist in increasing the competitiveness in the trade of
goods produced in the Southern African Development Community in both
regional and international markets.
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In the case of the TKC such success need to be
recorded against the following challenges:
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Absence of relevant operational data
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Deficient infrastructure
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Conflicts in policies, laws and administrative
practices;
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Deficient public private sector co-operation; and
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The absence of regional co-operation framework.
We have already embarked on processes that will ensure
that between the three countries of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa we
eliminate delays at border posts by improving customs procedures, joint
customs controls and border post management, border post business hours
and border post facilities, in short, improving the transport logistics in
our region.
Our collective commitment and will to improve the
transport logistics within the region cannot succeed without effective
capacity, institutional and funding arrangements. This MoU provide the
regional co-operation framework and the establishment of the
Trans-Kalahari Corridor Management Committee that will be responsible for
the development and implementation of processes and projects to address
the aforementioned challenges in the short, medium and longer-term. The
TKCMC represents the needed strategic partnership between our respective
governments and private sector stakeholders and role players to enable us
to unlock the required resources and expertise in the public and private
sectors of our respective countries and international partners in pursuit
of building seamless and integrated transport services that supports
social and economic development within our countries, the SADC region and
beyond.
Ladies and gentlemen, we should not forget that the
Trans-Kalahari Corridor is not an isolated initiative by the Governments
of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Together with the Maputo
Development Corridor (now completed), the planned Beira Corridor, Dar-es
Salaam, Nacala and the North-South corridors. It represents mainly road
corridor projects under the auspices of the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC) Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology,
the Southern African Customs Union Memorandum of Understanding on Road
Transportation whose ultimate objective is to contribute to harmonious,
balanced, equitable and sustainable development of the SADC as a building
block for our continental NEPAD programme.
At the heart of both SADC Protocol and NEPAD transport
agenda are the following strategic goals which are common to the
development and management of the Trans-Kalahari Corridor:
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Integration of regional transport networks to be
facilitated by the implementation of compatible policies, legislation,
rules, standards and procedures;
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Elimination or reduction of hindrances and
impediments to the movement of persons, goods, equipment and services;
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Broad based investment to develop, preserve and
improve viable strategic transport, communications and meteorology
infrastructure within and investor friendly environment generating
adequate returns;
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Optimal utilization of public and private
financial, human and other resources and the effective allocation of
existing scarce resources. To mention but a few.
In conclusion, I am confident that the officials and
private sector role-players in our respective countries will be able to
carry the responsibility of regional development through the TKCMC in a
manner that facilitates poverty reduction, promotes economic development
and reduce marginalisation in the region through efficient, seamless,
integrated and cost-effective transport infrastructure and services that
reduce transport costs and hindrances in cross-country movement of people
and goods.
Thank you.
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