Development corridor linking four countries launched

Four southern African countries have launched an initiative to promote economic development and integrate their transport networks. The Mtwara Development Corridor initiative, mooted in 1997, aims at exploiting existing investment opportunities along an 850 km stretch linking Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. The corridor runs from the southeastern Tanzanian port of Mtwara through the country's southern highlands to Lake Malawi, into northern Mozambique and then to eastern Zambia. Under the initiative, the development of roads, electricity, postal services, telecommunications, agriculture, mining, fishery and tourism will be tackled in the four countries, Zambia's permanent secretary for transport and communication, Bob Samakai, told IRIN. An agreement signed between the leaders of the four countries will also ensure the implementation of an institutional framework to enable smooth operation of the corridor, among other things. Support for corridors of development has been underscored in the Southern African Development Community Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan. The initiative will cover three of Zambia's provinces: Eastern, Northern and Luapula, which share borders with Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania. In Malawi the project will target all the districts of the Central and Northern regions and Mangochi district in the Southern region, while in Mozambique the northern Niassa and Cabo Delgabo provinces will have access to the corridor. According to Samakai, a conference of investors and donors will be convened soon to highlight the projects identified for development in the four countries. A feasibility study for a railway line linking Chipata, capital of Zambia's Eastern province, with Mchinji in Malawi's Central province - a vital aspect of the Mtwara corridor - has already been concluded.