The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has adopted the Shire-Zambezi waterways project as a major regional infrastructure development initiative, the COMESA secretariat said in a statement in Lusaka Thursday.

The project, at an estimated costs of one billion US dollars, will increase the navigability of the Shire River into the Zambezi River and the Indian Ocean, hence giving land-locked Malawi a direct access to the ocean.

The Shire River is the only river flowing out of Lake Malawi and is a tributary of the Zambezi River, Africa's fourth largest river that empties into the Indian Ocean off the cost of Mozambique.

The project will reduce transport costs, improve regional interconnectivity and facilitate intra-COMESA trade, the statement said.

The Shire-Zambezi waterways project is one of several key infrastructure development project that are being implemented in COMESA under the auspices of the New Partnership for Africa's Development and the African Union.

COMESA made the decision after a recent visit to the site by its Director of Infrastructure Amos Marawa.

It will facilitate the implementation of the project and coordinate the mobilization of resources for the project.

The statement said potential investors from Egypt will visit the site in November. They will be led by Egyptian Minister of Transport Assam Sharaf, who is also the current chairman of the COMESA committee of ministers of transport, communications and public works.

COMESA is one of Africa's largest regional integration body. Its 20 member countries boast a total population of 385 million people.

Source: Xinhua