Chirundu border is announced to have shifted gears to operate round the clock. Chirundu is a one-stop border post, the first to be set up in Africa back in 2009 and it’s a border designed to allow for the express clearing of cargo and goods.
One-stop border posts (OSBPs) are a unique modern approach for improving efficiency at land border crossings by combining the stops required for processing exit and entry formalities of the adjoining states at one location…
AUDA-NEPAD
…The OSBP concept has drawn wide attention from many African states and international development partners as an innovative solution to increase efficiency and facilitate trade in line with the spirit of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and there has been a high-level global commitment to developing and operating OSBPs in East, West, and Southern Africa. The first functional) OSBP was opened at Chirundu between Zambia and Zimbabwe in December 2009 and thereafter a number of OSBPs have been planned on the continent.
The Chirundu border post was already popular with car imports coming in from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania which is the landing port for second-hand vehicles from Thailand, Singapore, and Japan, some of the popular countries where second-hand vehicles are sourced from. According to The Herald, the border post clears 200 vehicles a day which works out to 73,000 vehicles a year.
Kariba boarder is a factor to Chirundu Border Post traffic
The government of Zimbabwe was concerned with the high volume of traffic on the Kariba border post. An overwhelming number of cargo, vehicle clearing, and cross-border travelers were overcrowding the border post causing delays in the ongoing projects running on the Kariba Dam. The Kariba Dam serves 3 purposes, It is a water reservoir for both Zimbabwe and Zambia for agriculture, fishing, and recreation. It is also the largest source of renewable hydroelectric power for the two countries and the top of the dam wall serves as an access route connecting Zimbabwe and Zambia. It has been in operation for over 60 years now and was in need of refurbishment. This US$294 million refurbishment began in 2017 and is set to be completed in 2025.
The Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project (KDRP) comprises the reshaping of the plunge pool and the refurbishing of the spillway gates.
Zambezi River Authority
Large scale engineering works like the KDRP take several years and the KDRP is no exception to this. From the start of the planning and procurement process to the completion of the works, the KDRP will take ten years. The works commenced in 2017 with the plunge pool reshaping and according to the current project programme, the KDRP will be completed in 2025.
In order to reduce the delays, traffic across this border post has been temporarily suspended leaving the Chirundu border post to accommodate this additional traffic. To cope with the increase in activity, the border has shifted its operating hours to 24 hours and the volume of traffic has made it the second busiest border post in Zimbabwe second to Beitbridge.
