Everyone is a winner!

Imagine the industrial and commercial boom in this landlocked area of the Third World that the First World avers in its Parliaments "requires food aid". Where currently, the cost of transporting a container to the sea costs more than the onward trip to Europe, importing a vehicle costs more from the coast than it does from Europe. Bulk cost of heavy minerals to the coast make the mining of heavy minerals needed by the First World now unviable simply due to current overland transport and trans shipment costs.

Imagine this unique long term investment that will assuredly survive the passage of several lifetimes. In the short term investment by first world governments in to their failing economies may well succeed but, it were better to invest in the procurement of less expensive inputs to their industry and commerce for world competitive long term benefits and real return.

Imagine the tourist attraction of navigating the Zambezi from Victoria Falls to the Indian Ocean! The seaway stretching approximately 1500 kms that could well become the 'eighth wonder of the world'.

The History

The Portuguese, prior to Independence, conducted an extensive feasibility study into a seaway along the Zambezi from the Indian Ocean to Zambia and Zimbabwe. The study was positive and was supported by the entire region at the time.

A trilateral memorandum of understanding was signed in April 2007 between Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique to re-open the lower Shire and lower Zambezi rivers so as to provide a direct navigable waterway between Chinde and Nsange, a distance of 238 kms. This compares with the distance to Beira of 800 kms and the sea port of Nacala 900kms and Dar es Salam 1200 kms.
So far as the Shire-Zambezi Waterway is concerned, the proposal is to construct a port at Nsange and to expand and modernise the old port at Chinde. To link the two ports the Shire-Zambezi waterway will be dredged to form a modern canal on which shallow draft , self propelled, barges and push tugs with interlocking barges will carry freight.
A lecture was delivered at the Royal Geographical Society in London on Thursday the 8 November, 2007 by Professor Colin Baker on the above.Tourism was considered a viable consideration.

It is obviously more viable to construct a seaway along the Zambezi to Zambia and Zimbabwe serving the surrounding area of Mozambique laden with mineral wealth. With the recent addition of Cabora Bassa Dam this project becomes significantly more viable as the area to Zambia and Zimbabwe has now been flooded.There is only the task of circumventing the Cabora Bassa gorge and dam, a mere 50 kms and some dredging to bring this historic project to fruition.