Funded by TradeMark East Africa, an organisation that aims to improve trade competitiveness in East Africa by cutting down transport time and costs, and improving the trade environment, a new one-stop border post – Tunduma-Nakonde has been launched by Tanzania and Zambia. The $6 million border post is expected to boost the trade between member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC). The opening of the border post, reportedly will slash the waiting time from four days to just one.
President of Tanzania Magufuli stated that he hoped that the bilateral trade between Tanzania and Zambia will record more growth with the opening of the new border post. Trade volume between Tanzania and Zambia rose from $89 million in 2010 to $265 billion last year. He noted that 965 large- and medium-scale enterprises from Tanzania have invested in Zambia, while eight Zambian companies have, invested more than $10 million in Tanzania.
However, political observers have pointed out that the lack of maintenance of the once-thriving Tazara (Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority), line may damage the prospects for transporting cargo between the two nations. Acknowledging the issues faced by Tazara line President Magufuli said that there was an urgent need to address the issues to make the railway line operate profitably. “Tazara and Tazama are examples of perfect partnerships between our two countries,” he added.
