Trade routes across southern and eastern Africa are to be massively upgraded, following an agreement between three of Africa’s regional economic communities, according to a report on Business Day.

Leaders across the region have agreed to begin working together and the first project earmarked by the group will see improvements to the infrastructure along the North-South Corridor, linking Zambia’s copper belt with the port of Durban.

The project is expected to cost around $1bn over the next ten years with the aim of cutting travelling times by road between Lusaka and Durban by 10%, reducing transit times at the Chirundu border between Zimbabwe and Zambia by at least 20% and the exploration of hydropower generation.

Efforts to bring down the high cost of transport in the region comes are long overdue, with the cost of transport in southern Africa coming in more than 70% higher than in either the European Union or the US.

The project will also see improvement made to the infrastructure and a simplification of the customs procedures along the main trading routes through eight African countries — South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Botswana and Mozambique.

High logistics costs have been cited as a major reason for the lack of competitiveness in Africa, and greater cooperation between African countries to drive down the costs is crucial to the further economic development of the continent.