The Trans-Kalahari Corridor is a paved highway corridor that provides a direct route from the port of Walvis Bay and

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

in central

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, through

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

, to

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

province in South Africa. It initially cost approximately 850 million Namibian dollars (US$115 million) and was officially opened in 1998. The corridor also includes railway lines from Walvis Bay as far as Gobabis in Namibia, and from

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

as far as

Lobatse Lobatse is a town in south-eastern Botswana, 70 kilometres south of the capital Gaborone, situated in a valley running north towards Gaborone and close to the border with South Africa. Lobatse has a population of 29,772 as of 2022. The town is ...

in Botswana. Connecting the two railway lines has been discussed since 2010, and an agreement between the two countries was signed in 2014, but the project has since become economically unfeasible. The Maputo Corridor provides an onwards connection from Gauteng to

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. Together these corridors form a unique road connection between Walvis Bay on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and

on the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

; the connected regions are also known as the Walvis Bay–Botswana–Gauteng–Maputo development corridor.

Route

The route Walvis Bay–Windhoek–Lobatse–Pretoria–Maputo is route number 40 in the

Southern African Development Community The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Goals The SADC's goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and se ...

Regional Trunk Road Network. The corridor begins in the coastal town of Walvis Bay, heading northwards as the B2 road to the coastal town of

Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...

(a distance of 35 km), where it turns eastwards. It heads eastwards from Swakopmund, through Karibib, to the town of Okahandja (a distance of 290 km), where it reaches a junction with the B1 road. At this junction, the B2 ends and the corridor becomes the B1 southwards. The entire section from Walvis Bay to Okahandja is shared with the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Road (Trans-Caprivi Corridor). From Okahandja, it heads southwards as the A1 road (that is the freeway section of the B1 road) for 70 km to the city of

(capital of

) where it reaches a junction with the B6 road. At this junction, the corridor becomes the B6 eastwards. The section from Okahandja to Windhoek is shared with the Tripoli–Cape Town Highway. From Windhoek, the corridor heads eastwards as the B6 for 315 km, through Gobabis, to the border town of Buitepos, where it crosses the national boundary in an easterly direction to enter

and become the A2 road. From Buitepos, the corridor heads east-south-east as the A2 for 750 km, through Jwaneng, to the border town of

. Immediately after Lobatse, at Skilpadshek, the corridor crosses the national boundary in an easterly direction to enter

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and become the N4 road ( Platinum Highway). From Skilpadshek, the corridor heads eastwards as the N4 for 285 km, through Rustenburg, to

(Tshwane; Capital of

), where the Trans-Kalahari Corridor ends at an interchange with the N1 road. The N4 then continues eastwards from Pretoria to reach the

border at Komatipoort (a distance of 415 km), as part of the Maputo Corridor, completing the route from Walvis Bay to Maputo.

Trans-Kalahari Railway

The Trans-Kalahari Railway is a planned railway expected to be built alongside the Trans-Kalahari Corridor. The railway is expected to mostly be a freight haulage line due to the path focusing on connecting industry rather than population centres. The line is predominantly aimed for coal transport from the Mmamabula coal fields to the Walvis Bay port, with an estimate that it would be exporting 90 million tonnes of coal each year from Botswana to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The route will follow the Trans-Kalahari Corridor (TKC) highway past Gobabis to Omitara, west to Okahandja, and onwards to Walvis Bay. In Botswana, the line shall start at the Mmamabula coal fields connecting to the existing railway to Rasesa, going west and passing north of Molepolole and east of Letlhakeng, joining the Molepolole-Kang road and through to the Mamuno border post.

References

{{Authority control Roads in Botswana Roads in Namibia Roads in South Africa International road networks