How a $260M bridge negotiated Africa’s most unusual border

Today, the pontoons sit ashore, mercifully redundant. You might spot them while crossing the 923-meter (3,028-foot) long Kazungula Bridge, a Copper from DRC, Zambia and Tanzania traveling south before being shipped to China. Food from South Africa traveling north. Mining equipment from Tanzania heading to the DRC and Zambia. All pass across Kazungula, says Kaiko Salim Wamunyima, secretary general of the SADC Truck Drivers Association of Zambia.The bridge opened in May 2021 but was over a decade in the making, explains Kazungula project engineering manager Isaac Chifunda. Geopolitics played a large part in the bridge’s design. Kazungula spans an area of Africa known as the “quadripoint,” says Chifunda. Sixty-five kilometers (40 miles) upstream from Victoria Falls, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe converge at the confluence of the Zambezi and Chobe rivers. The countries’ borders extend into the rivers, so Kazungula Bridge was shaped with a pronounced curve to weave through the landscape, avoiding Zimbabwean waters, says Chifunda.”Africa was massively represented on this project,” says Chifunda. Although construction was overseen by South Korean company Daewoo E&C, the team was multinational, he says, and raw materials including cement, steel and aggregates came from across southern Africa.As a significant investment for Zambia and Botswana, the bridge is packed with technology to ensure its long-term future.Chifunda explains that a structural health monitoring system “gives signals to which part of the bridge needs maintenance. And we also have a weather station — we measure wind speed, rainfall, we even measure excitation, that is, the movement of the (suspension) cables.”If there is danger, the station will send a signal through a message on the phone, through email as well, so that the two member states can attend to any maintenance needs.”New customsOnce connected to existing rail infrastructure in Botswana and Zambia, an even higher volume of cargo will be able to travel across the bridge and around southern Africa, says Chama.This will likely bring down cargo transport costs. A 2015 African Development Bank report identified poor rail links in landlocked countries (like Botswana and Zambia) as limiting their economic potential. Diesel-powered rail freight can be up to 75% cheaper than road freight, yet roads still handle the overwhelming majority of cargo in the SADC.”In the future landscape, I see rail cargo becoming a prominent feature,” Chama adds. But a timeline for when the bridge will be fully connected is unclear, with talks between Botswana and Zambia ongoing, says Chifunda.In the meantime, trucks continue to pass back and forth across the Zambezi River, with greater haste and ease than ever before. For drivers like Lambie, it has already proved a revelation. “The bridge is 100% perfect to us,” she says.