They agreed that the Maputo Development Corridor (MDC) - a strategic transport corridor linking the Port of Maputo with Africa's most vibrant economic hub, the city of Johannesburg, holds enormous potential benefits for both countries. "The initiative brings together infrastructure investors, service providers and stakeholders from Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland," says Barbara Mommen, Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI) chief executive officer.
"We know that the future of the Corridor lies in achieving transit cargo efficiencies and in growing general levels," Mommen says, adding that the MCLI aims to co-ordinate a stakeholder partnership that can remove barriers along the Corridor. "MCLI is in a unique position in that we are not profit-focused," Mommen states. "Our work consists entirely of bringing efficiencies to the Corridor-and because we are an NGO we can draw in the widest possible range of stakeholders, not just those partners concerned with logistics, but also those who serve user interests." Before MCLI was founded in 2003, she adds, there were huge border delays, as well as long waits to gain admission to the port itself.
"The potential of the Corridor was completely unrealised," she says and goes on to explain that MCLI is currently in a transformative phase and is moving to become a much more structured public-private partnership. "This will enable us to increase the role and level of government involvement in the development of the Corridor, particularly with issues such as border controls," Mommen tells Business Excellence Online.
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