Project Phases

The Project Programme will be firmed up in Stage 2 as the decisions of the Tripartite at the Stage 1 Workshop, will lead to the establishment of the required project governance structures as required to assist the pilot member states and corridors to plan and prepare for the pilot.  The same will be required for Member States that are not participating in a pilot corridor but their solution offer was adopted by the Tripartite and to be used during the pilot, i.e. development or hosting of TRIPS. For each Pilot Corridor, a Steering Committee will be established of which the composition is to include representatives of the relevant REC Secretariats, nominated project representative(s) from the Tripartite, participating Member States and Corridor Management Institution and the Contractor. During Stage 2, a Roadmap for the transition will be determined through the Steering Committees. The Roadmap will include the key results and activities required for the transition and preparation for the pilot. The Roadmaps will be incorporated in the Project Programme with an Action Document that will determine the Project Budget and financing requirements.

The Stage 3 preparation and implementation will be focused on the activities required to develop and implement the systems and TRIPS to the baseline requirements whilst in parallel the legislative and institutional as well as infrastructure capacity are to be developed in the participating Member States as well as at the corridor level. The Stage would be completed when one or both the pilot corridors are ready, together with the T-CBRTC, TRIPS supported by National Transport and Operator Registration Systems and VLM System. A Tripartite Workshop will be scheduled during which the established T-CBRTC, Pilot Corridor(s) and participating Member States will confirm their readiness, with an overview of the successes and challenges and results from the initial readiness testing / integration that were performed. The Contractor will present the commissioning plan as well as a monitoring and evaluation framework for consideration by the Tripartite. At the Workshop, the Tripartite may recommend changes to be implemented in respect of the pilot commission plan and monitoring and evaluation framework plan for the pilot. In case one of the pilot corridors are not yet ready, the Tripartite may decide to exclude the pilot corridor or the to delay the pilot.

Stage 4 will commence in accordance with the pilot commission plan whereby the transition process will be systematically performed to phase-out the quantitative regulation with the new qualitative approach as per the MCBRTA. A transition period will be allowed before the enforcement through TRIPS will commence at the Regional Weighbridges, border posts, customs and police check points. The transition period is also required for the cross-border transport operators to align their business operations and quality control systems to the new Operator Registration process for a qualitative regulation approach whereby they are regulating themselves with compliance that allows them to operate freely on the pilot corridors. The operators will need to appoint Responsible Competent Persons for each depot and register and manage their vehicle fleet and drivers accordingly whilst understanding the implications of the demerit systems that apply to them and their professional drivers. The pilot corridors will be monitored continuously by the Pilot Corridor Steering Committees and in case of any challenges, immediate corrective actions will be planned, executed in an organised and structured through the respective Steering Committees.