By Odindo Ayieko:
The signing of the awaited Simplified Trade Regime Pact between Malawi and Tanzania last month and the aggressive port upgrades being pursued by the government of President Samia Suluhu signal the neighbour’s shift towards a forward-looking approach to enhance long term trade policy stability between the two countries.
Six months since Tanzania’s general election, the country, whose port serves six landlocked states among them Malawi, is eager to cement itself as a major regional transport hub and transit route.
After Mozambique moved to lease part of the port of Nacala to Malawi in August last year, Tanzania on the other hand was also finalizing its plan to entice more importers to use the Dar es Salaam port.
Three weeks ago it launched construction of an expanded oil handling capacity at the port.
The project will cost the country $274 Million (475 Billion MWK) and is expected to improve Tanzania’s oil reserves and supply system, cut tanker turnaround times and ease congestion at the country’s biggest port thereby reducing overall wait times for all importers.
This expansion which is in line with Tanzania’s vision 2050 which eyes regional transport hub status is expected to be completed early 2027 is set to cut tanker waiting times to a week from 22 days thus increasing port operations efficiency.
Mozambique on its part moved to carve out some space for Malawi to develop a terminal to handle its goods. This, coupled with a rail connection could mean oil imports via Nacala port would be less costly to transport into Malawi unlike from Dar port whereby roads are used to deliver goods into the country.
For Malawi, this pursuit of transport supremacy among its neighbours is a boon for the business community, both large and small scale, since it focuses on reducing wait times, efficiency in cargo processes and eliminating a lot of red-tape for cross border trade activities.
With the Simplified Trade Regime Pact catering to small and medium business interests and the port operations upgrades targeting the bigger ones, Tanzania wants to strengthen its strategic role as a regional powerhouse and transport hub. All these efforts put Malawi in a great position to reap from being wooed by its neighbours with access to the sea.
The writer is a pan-african journalist
