Nakonde, Zambia, 19 March 2026: President Hakainde Hichilema on Thursday inaugurated the upgraded Nakonde One Stop Border Post on Zambia’s border with Tanzania, as Zambia seeks to reduce delays and lower the cost of moving goods along one of its busiest trade routes.
The $12 million upgrade is expected to cut cargo clearance times by more than half at a crossing that handles about 800 trucks a day. Nakonde is a critical gateway for trade between Zambia and Tanzania and for cargo moving through the region, including to and from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe. Border delays raise transport costs, tie up cargo and make trade less predictable. At a crossing such as Nakonde, even modest gains in efficiency can have effects far beyond the border itself. The border links Zambia to the port of Dar es Salaam, making it one of the country’s most important export connections to the coast.
The improvement works form the first of two upgrade phases designed to deliver the critical infrastructure and systems required to enable the facility to operate as a fully functional OSBP, capable of handling increased volumes more efficiently. Funded by the UK Government and implemented by the Government of Zambia in partnership with TMA, this first phase included expanded access roads, a truck parking yard, new office buildings and warehouses, and the installation of a modern non-intrusive X-ray cargo scanner and smart gates to improve traffic flow.
President Hichilema said the upgrade formed part of Zambia’s broader effort to make trade and transport work better. “The continued improvement of this facility is essential. It enables us to leverage this strategic location to generate greater value to support our children’s education, create jobs, improve healthcare, enhance business opportunities and generate government revenue.” He added: “This investment in physical infrastructure is more than the construction of a facility. It represents a strategic intervention to facilitate trade and strengthen regional connectivity. From this point, trade flows between Zambia and Tanzania extend northwards to Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia, and southwards into Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. This One Stop Border Post now assumes its rightful place within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area, advancing the seamless movement of goods and people across our region.”
The British High Commissioner in Zambia, H.E. Rebecca Terzeon said the project formed part of broader UK support to improve trade infrastructure and regional connectivity. “The inauguration of this modern Nakonde border post, with digital systems, marks a significant milestone in the enduring partnership between the UK and Zambia. When we work together to implement trade facilitation projects such as this, we are unlocking economic growth across and beyond the region, by lowering the cost of doing business and opening up new investment opportunities along this strategic corridor.”
David Beer, Chief Executive Officer of TMA, said the benefits of a better functioning border would be felt across the corridor. “When the Nakonde OSBP operates more efficiently, traders and consumers all the way along the corridor benefit from reduced time and lower costs of doing business,” he said. “The result is a better trading environment for everyone.” He added that Nakonde joins a wider network of border posts modernised to reduce the time and cost of cross-border trade. Since 2010, TMA has supported and operationalised more than 21 OSBPs across eastern and the Horn of Africa.
The investment at Nakonde builds on earlier UK support to the adjacent Tunduma OSBP in Tanzania, which included the installation of cargo X-ray scanners. Together, the two posts form one of the most important trade gateways on the Tanzania-Zambia route, where reductions in waiting time can have large effects on the cost of moving cargo.
This phase is the first in a wider programme of upgrades planned for Nakonde. Noting national electronic trade systems are prerequisites for efficient border operation, in December 2025 TMA launched a partnership with Zambia Revenue Authority and UNCTAD to rollout the ASYCUDAWorld stabilisation project. This will help restore system stability, improve processing accuracy, strengthen integrations, and enhance the performance and reliability of the customs platform to support faster customs clearance and timely revenue accounting.