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NLB director Thembi Moyo helps Mr Thomas Proustow (NLB shareholders representative) and Zimbabwean transport secretary Munesu Munodawafa to sign the take-over papers, while the South African Minister of Transport, Dipuo Peters (back left), and her Zim counterpart, Obert Mpofu, look on.

Towns to benefit from proceeds of Limpopo bridge

 

The governments of South Africa and Zimbabwe on Monday officially took over the ownership and operations of the multi million dollar New Limpopo Bridge linking the two neighbouring countries and pledged to use proceeds from the structure for the development of Musina and Beit Bridge border towns.

This follows the expiry of the 20-year build, operate and transfer (BOT) agreement with the New Limpopo Bridge (NLB) Company.

NLB constructed the bridge in 1994 under the BOT arrangement with the Zimbabwean and South African governments.

The colourful handover ceremony was held on Tuesday at the Beit Bridge duty free shop on the Zimbabwean side of the border and was witnessed by South Africa’s Transport Minister, Dipuo Peters, her Zimbabwean counterpart, Obert Mpofu, and senior government officials from the two countries.

In his address, Mpofu said the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (ZINARA) had been tasked with taking over the collection of about US$1,6 million tolling revenue per month at the bridge, with immediate effect. He said his government would retain most of the NLB staff at the border post.

Mpofu  added that officials from both governments had been tasked to draw up a memorandum of understanding over the operations of the bridge by the end of September this year, a development that would also see South Africa benefiting from the collection of toll fee. The bridge is the first major infrastructure project in Zimbabwe undertaken by the private sector under the BOT.

“The handover of this project is therefore testimony that private-public partnerships work and should be seriously considered as an alternative way of financing infrastructure development in the region,” said Mpofu.

He said revenue realised from the toll fees at Beit Bridge would be channelled towards the Beit Bridge Fund (BBF) for use in upgrading the border post and various key pieces of infrastructure in the border town. According to him, South Africa will have a similar arrangement, where the money will be used in developing their trade corridor and Musina town.

He said his government was working on several measures that would help decongest traffic at Beit Bridge Border Post. His South African counterpart, Peters, said that private public partnerships were an option for financing the infrastructure. “We need to boost the economic growth of our countries without direct utilisation of government finance, which is needed to meet other pressing social  demands.”

Peters said that, apart from mobilising domestic private sector capital for infrastructure development, BOT arrangements offered opportunities to foreign investors, which in turn created foreign exchange needed for economic growth.

NLB shareholders’ representative, Thomas Proustow, said that since the introduction of the multi-currency system in 2009, the government of Zimbabwe had received US$30 million from them in toll fees. He said a total of 10 million vehicles had passed through Beit Bridge Border Post since 1994.

Zimbabwe's transport secretary, Munesu Munodawafa, signed the transfer documents on behalf of his government while Thomas Proustow represented NLB company shareholders.

Beit Bridge Border Post is the busiest inland port of entry in Southern Africa, where an average of 10 000 travellers pass through the border per day, with the number doubling during peak periods such as the Christmas holiday.

According to border statistics, about 2 100 buses, 14 000 to 15 000 haulage trucks and 25 000 private cars use the bridge every month.

The bridge was officially opened jointly by former South African president Nelson Mandela and his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, in November 1995 during a ceremony at the border.

News - Date: 20 June 2014

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Mashudu Netsianda

Mashudu Netsianda is our correspondent in Beit Bridge, Zimbabwe. He joined us in 2006, writing both local and international stories. He had worked for several Zimbabwean publications, as well as the Times of Swaziland. Mashudu received his training at the School of Mass Communication in Harare.

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