By Akanimo Sampson
Egypt and Sudan are jointly planning to construct a new port in Wadi Halfa, a city in the Northern state of the latter, in a bid to develop the transport sector between the two North African Countries.
Last April 7, a delegation made up of engineers from Egypt’s River Transport Authority, in addition to the president of the board of the Nile Valley Authority for River Navigation, an Egyptian-Sudanese organisation that works in the transportation of passengers as well as goods, and advisers in port construction agreed to set up a joint committee for the implementation of the project.
The technical studies related to the project have already been elaborated after the new port’s site was selected in accordance with Lake Nubia’s water level requirements, which will help facilitate the maritime movement of the Nile Valley Authority for River Navigation.
Following a meeting held in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan on April 12, and chaired by Sudan’s Minister of Transport Mirghani Mousa, Egypt’s Minister of Transport Kamel al-Wazir announced that the project will be launched as soon as possible.
Heba el-Beshbeshi, a researcher at the Institute of African Studies and Research at Cairo University, explained that the border town of Wadi Halfa is strategic and that the port will be used for the movement of passengers and goods, and will help ease the dispute over the Halayeb and Shalateen triangle between the two countries and morph the region into an important center in their bilateral relations.
She strongly believes that the Wadi Halfa port presents an opportunity to boost cooperation in the border area, exploit the area for common interests, instead of border areas being a ground for conflict, as they are in other parts of Africa.
