Transport and Communications

e road transport industry has always been dominated by the private sector.

However, the provision of road infrastructure is still dominated by Government and supported by the cooperating partners. e participation of the private sector in the provision of road infrastructure has been particularly positive with respect to the N4 toll road, the section between Maputo in Mozambique and Witbank in South Africa.

In 2001-2002, institutional reforms continued in some of the member States.

ese were consistent with regional agreements and mainly related to enacting new legislation to incorporate regional standards as well as strengthen institu-tions established in previous reforms. A significant milestone was reached in Zimbabwe where the old Roads Act was repealed and replaced by a new Roads Act, which recognizes several categories of road authorities. In addition a Road Fund was also established, as was the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZiNaRa), which is responsible for the entire road network and the administra-tion of the Road Fund. ZiNaRa has a majority of its members coming from the private sector as is recommended in the regional model. Other reforms contin-ued in Botswana and Swaziland.

e Association of Southern African National Road Agencies (ASANRA), estab-lished in March 2001, has completed the definition of the terms of reference of its standing committees. ASANRA intends to take a proactive role in infra-structure delivery and maintenance in the region. In this regard, the work to be eventually taken over by ASANRA has continued to be reviewed by the SATCC Standard Specifications for Roads and Bridges, which is in the process of develop-ing guidelines for low-volume sealed roads.

3.5.1 Road traffic

e process of harmonizing road traffic signs that started in the late 1980s, moved towards finalization with the formal adoption by the Roads SCOM and COSO of the volumes that were developed. e importance of the safety of standardized traffic regulations as well as signage in all the member States cannot be overempha-sized. e adoption of the SADC Road Traffic Signs Manual would be an efficient way to harmonize road user behaviour and to contribute towards improved road safety in the region. Also significant in the period under review was the impend-ing project intended in part to improve road safety and provide road information along the Beira Corridor. e corridor will serve as a pilot project. If the results are positive, the project will be replicated in other corridors.

3.5.2 Road transport

e facilitation of intra-regional trade remains a key challenge for the road trans-port sector. Delays at border posts and the multiplicity of documents intended to serve the same purpose increases the costs of transport, goods and services in the SADC region. e period under review saw the continuation of discussions to reach convergence on several strategies to minimize the costs of trade facilitation.

Such work was centred mainly on monitoring the measures being implemented on the TransKalahari Corridor. is is the second of two pilot corridors, the first one being the Gauteng - Maputo Corridor, from which successful strategies can be replicated elsewhere in the region. In other measures relating to trade facilitation, SADC and COMESA formed a Task Team to develop modalities for harmonizing Motor Vehicle ird Party Insurance schemes across Eastern and Southern Africa.

3.5.3 Railways

In the railway sector, private sector involvement is moving at a satisfactory pace, following the concessioning of Malawi Railways, CFM (North and South of Mozambique), and the Beitbridge - Bulawayo line of Zimbabwe. SATCC-TU had higher hopes for this sector because of prospects of concessioning of several rail enterprises. e process is ongoing.

The Zambia Privatization Agency is spearheading the concessioning process of Zambia Railways. Concessioning is also being considered for Tanzania Railways Corporation, Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority, Swaziland Rail-way, South African Railways (Spoornet) and National Railways of Zimbabwe.

There are no plans to concession Botswana Railways and the TransNamib Railway. In Botswana, it is hoped that the newly established privatization agency, the Public Enterprise Evaluation and Privatization Agency (PEEPA) will initiate the privatization process in the foreseeable future. TransNamib is planning to involve the private sector in the development of a dry port in Windhoek as well as trans-shipment terminals at railheads to increase mul-timodal operations.

Plans for undertaking comprehensive policy reviews for harmonization at the regional level and ensuring that the policies and legislation satisfy the interna-tional best practices are at an advanced stage. ese will entail developing imple-mentation strategies with respect to legal and institutional reforms; increasing private sector involvement in railway investment; ensure adequate, permanent way and rolling stock; develop and implement compatible technical standards;

promote data information exchange; develop, harmonize and simplify procedures and documents; adopt common safety rules and regulations; and pool railway resources.

Priority will be given to the restructuring of the railway industry with the aim of attracting private investors to the railway industry. On this front, the railway sub-sector approved the following Model Legislative Provisions: Railway Restruc-turing and Regulation; Model Freight Contract; and Model Railway Passenger Service Concession. Member States are encouraged to establish independent railway regulators.

The SADC Regional Railways are now organized on corridors coordinated by Corridor Management Groups. It was recently agreed to expand the Cor-ridor Management Groups to include other stakeholders from customs, port operators, freight forwarding and clearing agents, immigration, and police.

In the long run, the intention is to form Corridor Planning Committees.

e performance of corridors is measured through an agreed number of per-formance indicators. e Southern Africa Railways Association (SARA) has been mandated to compile trends so that performance of the corridors over time can be measured.

3.5.4 Inland waterways

During the period under review, two main issues affecting inland waterways emerged and generated a lot of regional discussions. e first was the lack of

security for services operating on Lake Tanganyika. e war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has resulted in disruptions to shipping operations over the lake. e second issue was the need for proper environmental management surrounding inland waterways. Most of the waterways have large and expanding settlements on their shores. is has led to increasing siltation and a flow of wastes into the lakes, reducing the navigability of the waterways.

Poor safety on the inland waterways continued to be of concern. During the period under review, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) convened a seminar on drafting safety regulations for inland waterways vessels and non-convention size craft, including fishing vessels. It is hoped that the regulations will reduce the number of casualties experienced from such vessels in Africa. e final version of the Regulations has been circulated to all SADC member States for their consideration and possible implementation.

3.5.5 Maritime Ports and Shipping

e ports sector has been leading in terms of private sector involvement as evi-denced by the concessioning of port terminals of Maputo, Beira and Nacala in Mozambique, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and Luanda in Angola.

e SADC region has a fairly developed system of seaports to cater for existing demands for international movements. Reforms where port ownership and regu-lation is being separated from port operations continued in some member States.

e reforms have already started to make significant impact on productivity and efficiencies, notably in Namibia, where investment in additional infrastructure and aggressive marketing of the port of Walvis Bay is realizing growth in traffic handled. e amount of traffic handled at the various ports reflects the economic performance of the region and political stability is important to economic growth and the realization of the full potential in the region’s seaport infrastructure.

Hope of a peaceful climate in the future, especially in DRC and Angola, is likely to generate increased seaborne traffic flows.

While some of the regional ports are either close to or are operating beyond their rated capacities, planned developments across all coastal States, especially in South Africa, should ensure the availability of adequate capacity for some time to come.

e area of shipping has undergone several historic landmarks. e first was the introduction of the steam engine, then the containers. But the third most dramatic change, which has amounted to a ‘revolution’, is computerization, electronic commerce and the change from paper documentation to electronic documentation of the carriage of goods by sea. During the period under review, several SADC member States, especially Mauritius, South Africa and Namibia, continued to develop port e-commerce systems. A session to exchange

informa-tion and ensure harmonizainforma-tion will be held during the Internainforma-tional Associainforma-tion of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) Conference in Durban in 2003.

In the area of maritime safety, Southern African countries continued to ratify the various IMO conventions that were agreed on as part of the SADC Safety Develop-ment Programme and those required under Port State Control. e member States also kept abreast of the new safety and security requirements that are under discus-sion internationally as a result of increased awareness of terrorist threats.

3.5.6 Civil Aviation

Private sector participation in the civil aviation sub-sector over the last few years has been encouraging. is is evidenced by private sector management of airport terminals and facilities, as is the case in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia.

In the airline industry, public sector ownership and management is slowly decreasing. Zambia Airways and Lesotho Airways are no longer in operation.

Swazi Airways formed a joint venture with SA Airlink, with the Swazi Govern-ment the majority shareholder, holding 60 per cent and SA Airlink holding 40 per cent. South African Airways, Air Namibia and other airlines in the region have taken measures to secure strategic partners.

In 2001-2002, efforts in the sub sector concentrated on finalizing the prepara-tions for implementation of major projects and strategies, and involving neigh-boring sub-regions of COMESA and the East African Community (EAC) in that endeavour. e Yamoussoukro Decision is one such strategy aimed at liberalizing the air transport market of the region and of the whole continent. To facilitate its implementation, promotional seminars were held and competition rules drafted.

ese rules are currently undergoing unification with those of COMESA and EAC to merge them into one set of rules for the three sub-regions and may con-stitute the greater part of the rules for Africa. Work is also being done to establish a joint SADC/COMESA/EAC monitoring unit for implementing the decision.

e detailed feasibility study for the SADC Upper Airspace Control Centre (UACC) was accomplished. is paved the way for establishment of the centre, scheduled to commence in October 2002, with drawing up of the detailed imple-mentation plan. Other communication, navigation, surveillance/air traffic man-agement (CNS/ATM) activities continued to be implemented in earnest. As the first life cycle of the very small aperture terminal (VSAT) network approaches the end, alternative arrangements were developed to ensure its continuity and mod-ernization. e global navigation satellite system (GNSS) design procedures were accomplished in 28 international airports covering all the SADC member States.

Arrangements to get the region involved in both the European Geostationary

Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) and the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) test beds have been co-ordinated with the rest of Africa.

Aviation Safety and Security continued to dominate the work of the sub-sector both at regional and national levels. is was particularly emphasized after the events of September 11. e sub-region participated in formulating new security guidelines and standards during both the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly of October 2001 and the Aviation Security Conference of 2002 and helped to set out regional guidelines to improve the situation. Every ICAO contracting State has agreed to undertake global security audits. Such audits have been going on in the case of aviation safety. In this regard, all SADC member States have been audited and common shortfalls listed to be addressed jointly through an ICAO championed COSCAP-SADC project. is project is being finalized.