(Source: Business Week)

Image Courtesy: African Development Bank

International donors and lenders on Monday pledged $1.2 billion for projects to improve road and rail links between eight southern African countries.

The aim is to reduce transportation bottlenecks and bring down costs along the main trading routes through South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Botswana and Mozambique.

Bad delays at national border crossings, along with road taxes, have led to high prices for shipping products to regional and international markets, especially from landlocked countries like copper-rich Zambia. Vehicles also require frequent repairs due to poor road quality.

World Trade Organization director-general Pascal Lamy told participants at a two-day conference that there was an urgent need for Africa to speed up the completion of a North-South transportation corridor.

International lending institutions and donor governments promised $1.2 billion toward the project — with half coming from the African Development Bank over the next three years.

The World Bank pledged $340 million, with additional support from the European Union and Britain.