BOTSWANA and Zambia have agreed to incorporate Zimbabwe in the US$259 million Kazungula rail and road bridge project as the Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration “cleanses” international diplomatic and economic relations.
Presidents Lungu, Khama and Mnangangwa and their delegations, inspected progress made in the construction of the 923m bridge. Talks on the multinational project in Sadc’s North-South Corridor started in 2008 and work commenced in 2014, while Zimbabwe remained outside the project as it continued to iron out its diplomatic differences with Botswana.
Construction of the bridge is being funded through a co-financing arrangement with the African Development Bank and the European Union-Africa Infrastructure Fund Trust. Under Mr Mugabe, a dispute erupted after he refused to have the bridge enter Zimbabwe’s territory. This necessitated design alterations with the bridge — which was supposed to go straight into Zimbabwe — now going westwards into Namibia before curving into Zambia and adding to the construction stretch and project cost.
The three Presidents were overheard joking about who was the most senior among them; Mnangangwa was heard saying that he was the senior most, because he was the oldest of the three, to which Khama joked back that he was the oldest president among them. Mnangangwa was again heard telling president Lungu that he was ahead of him at school, to which President Lungu responded that he was elected president first.
-Zambian Eye
