Trans-Kalahari Highway

▪ 1999

      In March 1998 the residents of Botswana and Namibia met at Buitepos on the border between the two countries to inaugurate formally the Trans-Kalahari Highway. The new road formed part of the strategic coast-to-coast route that linked Maputo, Mozambique, on the Indian Ocean to Walvis Bay on the Atlantic coastline of Namibia. It was designed to serve as the backbone of an economic corridor and was expected to usher in a new era of east-west economic integration while at the same time consolidating the Southern African Development Community's (SADC's) vision of a free-trade area. The highway was also intended to free the landlocked Botswana from dependence on South Africa for routes to a deep-water port.

      The two-lane all-weather road through Botswana to Gobabis, Namibia, which took six years to complete, closed the gap in the cross-continental highway. The 600-km (1 km = 0.62 mi) section from Lobatse to Buitepos inside Botswana cost $77 million, with major funding provided by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Japanese Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund, and the Nordic Investment Bank. The final 94-km section linking Gobabis and Buitepos cost $15 million, with funding assistance for equipment and materials provided by the African Development Bank. In addition to providing a strategic and regional link, the highway reduced the distance from Namibia to the industrial hub of Gauteng province, S.Af., by about 400 km. At the year's end some links and spurs from the highway still needed to be built or improved, and an equitable cost-recovery plan that would ensure the financing of the highway's necessary maintenance and upkeep had to be established.

      The underlying objective of the highway was to stimulate economic development in the heart of southern Africa. In recalling the founding dream of the SADC in 1980, Pres. Sir Ketumile Masire of Botswana noted that the original aim was to "focus on a unified market economy with strong regional links, where each country could add value according to its own abilities; to the benefit of the region." The highway was part of an overall development plan for transport and communications intended to act as a catalyst for promoting social and economic integration and promote economic prosperity.

JOHN H. EARP

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