Trans-Kalahari Corridor

The Trans-Kalahari Corridor is a paved highway corridor that provides a direct route from Walvis Bay and Windhoek in central Namibia, through Botswana, to Pretoria in Gauteng province in South Africa. It initially cost approximately 850 million Namibian dollars (US$115 million) and was officially opened in 1998.[1][2]

The corridor also includes railway lines from Walvis Bay as far as Gobabis in Namibia, and from Johannesburg as far as Lobatse in Botswana.[1] Connecting the two railway lines has been discussed since 2010, and an agreement between the two countries was signed in 2014, but the project has since become economically unfeasible.[2][3]

The Maputo Corridor provides an onwards connection from Gauteng to Maputo in Mozambique. Together these corridors form a unique road connection between Walvis Bay on the Atlantic and Maputo on the Indian Ocean; the connected regions are also known as the Walvis Bay–Botswana–Gauteng–Maputo development corridor.[4]

Route
The B2 in Namibia, between Windhoek and Swakopmund

In Namibia, the corridor is made up of the B2 from Walvis Bay through Swakopmund to Okahandja, the B1 from Okahandja to Windhoek, and the B6 from Windhoek through Gobabis to the Botswana border at Buitepos/Mamuno. In Botswana it is called the A2 and runs through Jwaneng and Lobatse to the South African border at Pioneer Gate/Skilpadshek. In South Africa it follows the N4 through Rustenburg to Pretoria.

The N4 then continues eastwards from Pretoria to reach the Mozambique border at Komatipoort, as part of the Maputo Corridor. The route Walvis Bay–Windhoek–Lobatse–Pretoria–Maputo is route number 40 in the Southern African Development Community Regional Trunk Road Network.

References
  1. "Trans-Kalahari Corridor". Walvis Bay Corridor Group. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  2. Tjitemisa, Kuzeeko (16 February 2017). "Trans-Kalahari railway line on track". Lela. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017.
  3. "The Trans-Kalahari Railway Line Project is not viable". Mmegi Online. 26 October 2016. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016.
  4. Guy Arnold (2000). The New South Africa. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 188. ISBN 9780312235178.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.