Seven Member States from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have embarked on a bold journey to transform the North-South Corridor (NSC) from a purely transit and trade corridor into a smart economic corridor, making it a powerhouse of industrialisation, job creation, and sustainable development.
At a high-level workshop in Johannesburg, the seven Member States, namely Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and several International Corporation Partners and SADC implementing partners endorsed and validated the concept of the NSC Economic Corridor Pilot Programme, laying the groundwork to evolve the corridor into a fully integrated economic corridor. The validation workshop took place in Johannesburg, South Africa from 24 to 25 July 2025.
The North South Corridor is one of the most important corridors in the SADC region, being the busiest trade route moving over 60% of SADC trade and serving 7 countries and over half of the region’s population. The corridor is considered the backbone of SADC region, spanning from Durban in South Africa to Kolwezi in DRC, overlaying several Trans-African Highways (TAH) including TAH3 (Cape Town to Tripoli), TAH4 (Cape Town to Cairo) and TAH9 (Beira to Lobito). The NSC also transects the region’s top mineral zones of DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe, major agricultural production zones, and several major river basins including Okavango, Zambezi and Limpopo. The NSC is serviced by the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) Grid and ICT infrastructure networks, which provide great opportunities to industrialisation and improved and modern agricultural practices that can benefit from enhanced energy and digital services.
The concept of a smart economic corridor strives to encourage concentration of economic growth areas within a particular radius of the corridor, which ensures easy access to infrastructural services. It is estimated that the North South Economic Corridor could unlock $16.1billion in GDP within the region and generate approximately 1.6 million jobs with inclusion of youths, women and small and medium enterprises, through local manufacturing, value chains and other economic activities.
The pilot programme is expected to kick off in 2026 after approval of the concept note by the Council of Ministers and Summit of Heads of States taking place this August 2025.
