Malawi Ponders Merging the Dar es Salaam and Central Corridors
On Friday, 16th June 2023, the Minister of Transport and Public Works Honorable Jacob Hara MP, joined fellow Ministers responsible for transport from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in the 12th Interstate Council of Ministers (ICM) of the Central Corridor meeting in Bujumbura Burundi.
The Minister was accompanied by Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Hastings J. K. Chiudzu and Deputy Director of Policy and Planning, Charles Mtonga.
The Minister’s participation is in light of the proposal by the Central Corridor Transit and Transport Facilitation Agency (CCTTFA) that the two corridors of Dar es Salaam and Central be merged and managed through a single corridor management institution.
The Minister participated in an observer capacity as part of enhancing Malawi’s understanding of the mandate and how processes and programs are managed in the Central Corridor with the CCTTFA and its Secretariat.
The Dar es Salaam Corridor links the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Lusaka in Zambia and Lilongwe in Malawi. From Lusaka, Zambia, the Corridor gets into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is largely a road transport corridor.
The Central corridor, is an integrated network involving road, rail and inland waterways connecting the Port of Dar es Salaam to its users currently in the five Member States of Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). These two corridors use the Port of Dar es Salaam as a gateway for exports and imports with the international markets and member countries are the same. At this meeting Malawi indicated its preliminary interest to work with the six countries to improve corridor performance and subsequently reduce transport and trade facilitation costs along the corridor. Further stakeholder consultations and analyses will be conducted before the final pronouncement on the subject.
The Dar es Salaam, accounting for 15.3% of Malawi’s imports and exports is one of the four international trade routes for Malawi. Other corridors accessible to Malawi are Beira at 37.6%, Nacala at 8.2%, and Durban (North-South) at 38.9% of Malawi’s imports and exports corridors with the Mtwara corridor under development.
