Zimbabwe’s state-owned logistics firm, Road Motor Services (RMS), says its dry port project at Walvis Bay in Namibia is now 70% complete, four years after construction work began.
RMS, a subsidiary of the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), is spearheading the construction of the port in partnership with the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG) and the Namibian Port Authority.
In September 2009, the Namibian government granted Zimbabwe 19 000 sqm of land to construct a dry port, seen as critical to boost the landlocked southern African country’s trade. Work on the project officially started in 2014. In recent times Zimbabwean trade volumes through the Port of Walvis Bay have grown significantly to a point where it currently ships around 2500 tonnes a month through the Namibian harbour. The chairperson of Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport, Daniel Garwe, said recently that construction work at the dry port was proceeding speedily.
He added though that it was crucial to consider the value proposition of Zimbabwe’s investment in the dry port project considering that it only had a half-century lease on the land.
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