Malawi-Mozambique: Shire-Zambezi Waterway should not be politicised

The much publicised Nsanje World Inland Port has been reduced to a concrete quay with a couple of dozen mooring posts. Instead of seeing cargo ships docking at Nsanje River Port what one sees are a few fishermen peddling their wooden dug-out canoes through the shadowy waters of the mighty Shire River.

Unlike former president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika who had strong faith that the construction of an inland port at Nsanje meant linking land-locked Malawi with the Indian Ocean port of Chinde, 238 kilometres away in neighbouring Mozambique, through the Shire-Zambezi Waterway project, current crop of leaders in power are almost silent about the development of port.

Worse still, some cynical politicians ridicule the project and brand it as a white elephant. From the outbursts of some leaders in power, it is obvious that they do not want to see the project succeed. Others even wish the project was abandoned. Their political fear is that if the project comes to realisation, it is the late Mutharika who will take credit. That is the ugly face of our partisan politics where projects are personalised instead of analysing or evaluating them on the basis of their importance.

While as a nation, we are seemingly ignoring the project, it is interesting to learn that Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) regards it as a priority regional project and more activities are happening now than before behind the scenes.

According to the Director of Infrastructure and Services at Sadc Secretariat, Remmy Makumbe the feasibility study that stands in the way before implementation of the project would take up to 18 months to the end of 2014 before countries involved, partners and private sector discuss the infrastructure needs, investment levels and implementation plan.

As a matter of fact, Sadc has partnered with the Common Market for East and Central Africa (Comesa) for the feasibility study and funds have already been pumped into the project.

Despite the initial challenges and misunderstandings that punctuated the initiation of the project, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia need to think seriously about its benefits. For landlocked Malawi, the obvious benefit of the project is the reduction of the high transport costs of importing and exporting goods by road and rail via the Mozambican port city of Beria - a round trip of about 1,200 kilometres.  Whether one likes it or not, if successfully implemented, the project will offer a cheap route to the Indian ocean for landlocked Malawi and even for Zambia and benefit some parts of Mozambique.

It is our hope that following Sadc’s observation and update on the Shire-Zambezi waterway, partisan politics will give way to economic sanity so that as a nation we can still regard the project as a priority.

As others have recently observed Malawi desperately needs a capable and developmental state which is capable to formulate and implement policies and projects that serve the national interest. The reduction of transport costs by an estimated 50 to 60 percent will benefit all Malawians and hence it is a mistake to politicise such a long term beneficial project.

When Shire-Zambezi Waterway is going to become a reality, it is Malawians who will benefit.