Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho has set the stage for a fresh fight with the national government and Kenya Ports Authority after he announced new levies on shipping containers that will earn the county nearly Sh60 billion.
The raft of charges are contained in the Finance Bill covering the financial year to June 2016. The county reckons that the new charges will help grow its coffers with the revenue used to repair infrastructure.
For instance, ships will be required to pay a permit fee of $20 per tonne of exports and $20 per tonne to clear imports.
The permit and import clearance fees alone stand to earn Mombasa more than Sh52 billion based on the 24.8 million tonnes that went through the port, a major trade gateway to East Africa.
The central government in Nairobi had opposed the new levies proposed by the county, warning that they could undermine recent reforms to speed up the clearance of goods through the port.
Importers said the extra levies would offer an advantage to a rival port in the neighbouring Tanzania, which is expanding its facilities in a multi-billion shilling plan.
Mombasa Land executive Francis Thoya said the county is negotiating with KPA over the new levies despite the port managers denying any such talks.
“It should be noted that the port is in Mombasa, therefore, the county deserves to charge some taxes to get revenue in order to provide better services to the public,” Mr Thoya said.
“We intend to introduce the new levies once we reach an agreement with shippers and the KPA management.”
Each ship would also pay $60 and $300 for inspection depending on its size, $60 per square metre for compulsory spraying against disease and $40 per container for verification.
The port received 1,012,002 containers last year, which stood to earn Mombasa County Sh4.2 billion from the verification levy.
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The county will charge $20 for supervision and destruction of condemned goods. Passenger ship carrying between 50 and 100 people will be charged $300 (Sh31,500) while those carrying more than 1,000 people will pay $500 (Sh52,500).
The port levies could yet become the biggest test of national government’s ability to challenge decisions by devolved units which can charge new taxes using powers granted to autonomous regions under the 2010 Constitution.
Mr Joho attempted to introduce the new charges in the first year of his term in 2013, but was opposed by KPA and the national government.
Source: Business Daily

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