THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) will shift its regional office from Livingstone to Kazungula District, Southern Province, as cross-border trade in the area is expected to boom following the completion of the construction of the Kazungula Bridge, says corporate communications manager Topsy Sikalinda.

The state-of-the-art Kazungula Bridge was completed last month, but is scheduled to soon be officially opened.

Sikalinda announced that the Authority could not help, but shift their regional offices to Kazungula as economic activity was expected to intensify, with huge revenue collections recorded, compared to the Livingstone office.

“The projections there in terms of money, I might not know, but what’s happening, for example, for us, our regional base is in Livingstone for that area. So, the regional base is shifting to Kazungula. For now, the main office is based in Livingstone, but we have a few officers in Kazungula and Katima Mulilo (border), who are under Livingstone. But because almost everything will be done from Kazungula, the main office will now shift,” Sikalinda told News Diggers! in an interview.

“We will just leave a skeleton in Livingstone because the activities will not be there. And it’s a short route from South Africa, from Namibia and from Botswana. So, we expect these other routes to divert their traffic. The time taken to trade will also be shortened because we will have a one-stop border post. And traffic will be passing through Botswana this time around and when you look at Botswana, the roads are very good, there will be no slowing down for Zambians when they are on the move. Have you ever heard drivers complain about roads in Botswana? No. So, there are many advantages.”

The Kazungula Bridge, constructed at a cost of over US $70 million, is expected to enhance transport operations along the regional north-south corridor, which links mineral-rich Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Botswana and South Africa.