THE Mombasa government has renewed its demand for a share of revenue generated at the port of Mombasa.

Trade executive Mohammed Abdi said yesterday the funds will be used to improve infrastructure in the county.

He said port efficiency cannot be achieved without proper infrastructure in place.

“We ask for a share of the revenue generated at the port. We need to see how we can use this to improve infrastructure outside the port. This will go a long way in improving business through Mombasa,” Abdi said.

He said Mombasa is ranked 27 in the country’s revenue allocation, despite contributing 12 per cent of the country’s revenue collections.

“There is no way we can deliver without equitable distribution of revenue. We provide services, infrastructure for the port city and all these require enough funding to deliver. Mombasa is the herb of trade through the port,” he said.

The county government and KPA have been at logger heads over port management with the county government seeking control of the port.

KPA chairman Danson Mungatana however said the port will continue submitting revenue to the national government as required by law.

“Taxes should not be a debatable issue as we pay our taxes as per the law,” he said.

Mungatana dismissed claims that KPA does not contribute to the county government’s kitty.

“We have a lot of other properties in Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nairobi. All these pay taxes to the respective counties so whoever says port is not contributing to county government is not looking at facts,” said Mungatana.

Mungatana and Abdi were speaking during the imports and exports conference in Mombasa organised by the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which ends today.

Source URL: The Star

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