SA firm in joint venture to put bridge across Zambezi

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25-04-2013
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The Cape Times
Source

SOUTH AFRICAN engineering firm, Gibb, has been awarded a $248 million joint contract to construct a road and rail bridge of nearly one kilometre across the Zambezi River between Botswana and Zambia, replacing the notorious Kazungula Ferry.

Construction on the 960m long bridge will begin in March next year, with a projected completion date of early 2018.

The project was first announced in 2003 after 19 people died – some drowned and some taken by crocodiles – when one of the two ferries sank on September 18. A South African truck carrying raw cobalt drove up its boarding ramps after ignoring orders from the ferry operators to remain on the banks of the Zambezi.

In the wake of the tragedy, 30 weighbridge operators at various Zambian border posts were suspended for accepting bribes from mainly South African truckers to underweigh trucks so that they could pay lower ferry tariffs.

After the initial announcement that the bridge would be constructed as a matter of urgency, the project has been repeatedly stalled because of objections from the Zimbabwean government because part of the bridge would straddle that country’s territory.

The three countries meet at Kazungula, a small village near Kasane, gateway to Botswana’s Chobe National Park and Moremi Game Reserve.

At the height of Zimbabwe’s financial meltdown throughout 2009, when fuel supplies ran dry, scores of truckers used Kazungula to bypass the normal route through Harare, and it took on average four to five days to get across the Zambezi. Queues of trucks stretched for several kilometres on both sides of the border, and bustling shanty towns housing prostitutes and shebeens sprang up in both countries.

Gibb’s electrical engineering director, Dr Willem Sprong, said yesterday that the bridge “would be instrumental in aiding Botswana and Zambia to work together (and) increase trade and assist citizens’ working in either country without work permits”.

Sprong said: “One of the challenges on this project is that there is an annual threemonth flooding season in the area and this will potentially hinder the construction.

“The team would have to ensure that they maximise the period before flooding season starts to meet the appropriate deadlines.”

Gibb is expected to earn at least R40m through a joint venture with Nippon Koei, and will manage the review of the preconstruction phase and detailed designs, and the construction.

“We are responsible for the design review, tender documentation and supervision of the construction,” said Sprong.

“The bridge will be unique in that it would consist of two one-stop border posts on either side of the bridge, which will prevent queues by motorists on the bridge itself.”

Other companies in the joint venture include Bothakga Burrow Botswana, CPP Botswana and Zulu Burrow Development Consultants.