In 2009, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) that comprise the so-called “Tripartite” launched a pilot transport corridor programme, namely the “North-South Corridor Aid-for-Trade Programme”.
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The Tripartite includes the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). These three RECs are working towards deepening regional economic integration through a number of programmes, including the so-called “North-South Corridor Aid-for Trade Programme”, which aims to improve the reliability of transport corridors through addressing infrastructure constraints and operational inefficiencies, improvements in policies and procedures, corridor institutional development and the promotion of coordinated approaches to planning, programming and financing.
The NSC Aid-for-Trade road network includes the road corridors defined by SADC as the North-South Corridor (NSC), the Dar es Salaam Corridor and segments of the Trans-Kalahari and Nacala Corridors. This road network spans 8 countries1 and a total of 10,647 km of road (8,746.3 km excluding South Africa). In terms of both traffic and freight volumes, it is also the busiest transport network across the 27 countries that make up the Tripartite region.
The North-South Corridor Aid-for-Trade Programme presents a regional approach to the development and rehabilitation of surface transport infrastructure along transport corridors – which differs fundamentally from traditional, national approaches to project planning and implementation in the following ways:
The NSC Aid-for- Trade programme: • Combines investment in infrastructure with programmes addressing trade facilitation and trade and transport regulation between countries; • Takes a holistic approach to transport system planning and maintenance across national boundaries (covering rail, road and port links, border posts and the movement of goods between them); • Works with multiple stakeholders - including RECs, national governments, private sector and multilateral and bilateral donors; and • Seeks a progressive approach to financing that reflects both public good and commercial interests (based on economic returns).
Since its launch in Lusaka (April 2009) at a High Level financing conference, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) has been supporting the Tripartite in its efforts to plan, implement and finance the North-South Corridor Aid-for-Trade programme, mainly through one of its regional integration programmes – TradeMark Southern Africa.