The completion of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) overpass in Dar es Salaam comes as a relief to motorists, who previously had to endure many hours in traffic. Constructed at the junction of the busy Mandela Expressway and Julius Nyerere Road in the commercial capital, the flyover — funded by the government of Japan through the Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica) — is expected to be officially inaugurated by President John Magufuli in October, according to government spokesperson Hassan Abbas. During peak hours, motorists using the road would wait for hours due to traffic congestion at the busy junction, which is a key link from the central business district to the airport, the Dar es Salaam port and densely populated residential areas. Construction of the flyover started in October 2016 at an estimated cost of $45 million. The road, which is expected to eventually reduce traffic jams by 80 per cent, consists of four lanes and a 425-metre bridge. It is also expected to increase productivity by reducing the time people spend on the road. During a recent inspection tour of the flyover, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said construction of the Tazara flyover has factored in the need for a rapid bus transit project to Gongo la Mboto from the city centre. He said the contractor has set aside enough space and the Dar project will kick off soon. In the run up to the official opening, motorists were allowed to use the flyover starting on September 15. The Tanzania...

Cargo-ladden trains from the port of Mombasa are being kept waiting for hours before offloading at the inland container depot  due to lack of space. Off-take of cargo at the depot by trucks has been slow compared to the rate of delivery of containers by trains from Mombasa. Cargo owners' slow pace of removing their goods is posing a major headache to Government agencies operating at the facility. When we visited the Inland Container Depot Nairobi (ICDN) last Friday, officials were racing against time to create space for arriving containers. Three trains were waiting at the Syokimau SGR station, each carrying about 108 twenty-foot equivalent units (teus) or 80 to 90 containers. The situation has also hampered the 24-hour loading operation at the port as the trains spend time about three kilometres away to be allowed to deliver cargo to the Nairobi facility. The ICDN is currently holding more than 10,270 teus while its efficiency level is reportedly at 6,000 units. The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), which owns the ICDN, will from today start evacuating containers that have been at the depot for long to free space for new cargo. KPA will team up with the Kenya Railway Corporation (KRC), the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) and the Kenya Plant Inspectorate Services (Kephis), among other agencies, to clear the containers that have hampered SGR operations. Sources told The Standard that Transport Principal Secretary Esther Koimet last week met Government officials involved in the ICDN operations and ordered speedy transfer of containers. KPA General Manager, Operations, William Ruto said about 3,000 container units which have been at the depot for more than 21 days will...

Six  million tonnes of conventional cargo will be evacuated from the port of Mombasa by rail every year once the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) relief line two extending from berth 11 to berth number one becomes operational. Speaking to press at the Port of Mombasa, SGR Project Manager for Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) at the Mombasa port, David  Arika said the 2.8 kilometers relief line two project is complete and ready for use. He said the port is recording high growth in cargo handling as a result of the SGR commercial operations which began in January this year. Arika also said the new line would enable loading of 200, 000 units of vehicles directly from the vessels to the train wagons. “Dynamic testing has been done and it has confirmed that the line is ready for use. What is left is to put safety measures inside the port in line so that the train can now start accessing all the way to berth number one,” said the project manager. Arika said the relief line two targets bulky and heavy cargo like steel, clinker, iron and cement into the SGR trains. He added that plans were on course to establish another one kilometre siding extension from the port to grain bulk storage through public private partnership to the tune of Sh.3 billion. He said this would enable seamless evacuation cargo from grain bulk and other companies’ storages within the port to other parts of the country. This, he said, would increase...

Kenya  Ports  Authority (KPA) acting Managing Director, Dr. Daniel Manduku says the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) freight operations have boosted cargo transportation and enhanced efficiency at the port of Mombasa. Mombasa port remains the most connected in the region, with at least 33 shipping lines calling and providing direct connectivity to more than 80 ports worldwide. The MD observed that the 472 km SGR line from Mombasa to Nairobi has helped lower conventional cargo and ship congestion, besides enhancing Mombasa’s image as a regional logistics hub. Dr.Manduku said the SGR has helped decongest Mombasa port by hastening the offloading of cargo from ships for onward transportation to Nairobi and other hinterland destinations via the modern high-speed rail network. “The movement of cargo by the modern rails has helped ease the cost of doing business in Mombasa and its environs,” he noted adding that it has also eased vehicular traffic on the port access roads. Some 1, 300 containers arrive at the port daily with about 800 being loaded to the cargo trains bound for the Nairobi Inland Container Deport (ICD). He  said  KPA ICD Nairobi  works 24 hours and they encourage clients to be clearing their cargo throughout even the weekends as all services are available round the clock. He acknowledged that the SGR commercial services have affected the multi-billion shilling Container Freight Stations (CSFs) businesses in Mombasa. He said KPA is aware that the SGR operations have not gone down well with CFS operators and transporters as they feared...

The Government of Uganda has delayed the implementation of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) by two and a half years due to blame games. During a meeting held between MPs on Public Accounts Committee (PAC), officials from the Ministry of Works and SGR, who had been summoned to respond to audit queries raised in the June 2017 auditor report on Friday, the Head of Planning at Ministry of Works, Richard Sendi revealed that the SGR started in January 2016 and they had earmarked to have preliminary works on land acquisition complete by February 2017. However, compensation of the Project Affected Persons (PAPs) has remained a big challenge. Out of Shs524bn compensation cost, only Shs50.8bn has been paid so far, Sendi revealed.   Miriam Tumukunde, the SGR Project Manager faulted the Ministry of Finance for the delay of compensations, saying SGR officials have been condemned to follow the pace adopted by Finance in terms of release of funds. The SGS team revealed that although Parliament allocated Shs39.2bn for the project this financial year, the Ministry of Finance only released Shs5bn in the first quarter for the SGR project. It should be noted that in his report to Parliament, Auditor General, John Muwanga raised many concerns on how the project was being run; with delayed valuation of PAPs, slow demarcation of right of way and low compensation rates featuring top on the list of concerns by the audit team. The report highlighted that out of the 3,481 PAPs in the districts of;...

DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania (Xinhua) -- The central banks of Tanzania and Zambia will on Friday sign an agreement aimed at enabling traders from both countries to make payments in local currencies at the Tunduma and Nakonde border posts, respectively, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said on Thursday. A statement by BoT issued in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam said the agreement will allow commercial banks at Tunduma and Nakonde border posts to make payments in both currencies without restrictions. “This agreement is aimed at boosting trade and investments between Tanzania and Zambia,” said the statement. The BoT statement said the agreement will enable traders and individuals to make payments in Tanzanian shillings and Zambian kwacha on both sides of the border. The move is also aimed at curbing the use of illegal foreign currencies in business transactions on both sides of the border, The statement added. “This will also enable the governments of Tanzania and Zambia to collect required taxes,” added the statement. . EARLIER REPORT: Tanzanian importers complain over lack of transparency on taxes DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian traders who import goods from abroad complained on Thursday over what they termed as lack of transparency in tax evaluations, delays resulting from multiple agencies doing same duties, and unpredictable port charges. Silver Kiondo, chairman of the Tanzania Business Community, said lack of transparency in tax evaluation has caused most of the traders to incur unexpected expenses. Kiondo also complained of lack of coordination between the Tanzania Bureau...

. . . Contractor begins laying railway tracks THE ongoing construction of the country’s historic Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) has gained yet another momentum, after the contractor started laying railway tracks, following the arrival of the first vessel carrying a consignment of 7,250 tonnes of rail a fortnight ago. Equally, the government has revealed that it has already opened tender for procurement of freight wagons and locomotives for the envisaged electric train. The ground breaking ceremony to inaugurate the laying of rail was graced by the Minister of Works, Transport and Communications, Engineer Isack Kamwele. Accompanied by his deputy, Mr Atashasta Nditiye, the Managing Director of RAHCO, Mr Masanja Kadogosa and the Director of Tanzania Information Services and Government Spokesperson, Dr Hassan Abbas, Eng Kamwele exuded confidence that the construction of the high-speed electric train infrastructure was progressing well. He stated that next month, another ship carrying a consignment of rail will dock at the Dar es Salaam Port. In April last year, President John Magufuli laid the foundation stone for the construction of the railway for the first historic electric train in East and Central Africa, from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro. The line will host a passenger train and a cargo train that will have the capacity to transport 10,000 tonnes of freight at once, and create over one million jobs upon completion in 2019. It will also comprise 300 kilometre railway line, with 205 kilometres being the main line and 95 kilometres intersections. And, In March, 2018,...

Lori Systems, a tech-enabled trucking logistics platform has launched into Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan after winning multiple bids associated with the newly built $4B railroad system in East Africa, with the joint goal of driving down the costs of goods in the region and unlocking the region’s growth potential. “We’ve opened new locations in Uganda, South Sudan and Rwanda. Over the past year, we have grown rapidly – both in terms of throughput on the system as well as the team. Our team has grown from 15 to 70 since February and adds experience from organizations such as McKinsey, DHL, and NASA. Lori is focused on hiring the best talent in order to execute on bringing down the costs of goods across the continent,” Sandler said. The firm has also partnered Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway to help reduce the costs involved by truckers in moving bulk imports and exports. “We’re so excited to announce our working partnership with the Standard Gauge Rail in Kenya. In our continued efforts to bring down the costs of goods, we have been rapidly ramping up our operations to tackle massive transportation issues. We’ve already had success in bringing down direct costs of moving bulk grains, achieving a 17% reduction in Uganda,” said Josh Sandler, CEO of Lori Systems. The firm also recently partnered with Kuehne + Nagel,  DHL and Cargill to allow them to extract greater insight from their logistics data and drive informed action through improved technology, analytics, and operations. To further...

Countries can use the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) tool to create opportunities for African businesses and through them drive the continent’s industrialisation, economic diversification and development, said David Luke, coordinator of the Africa Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) In a presentation at the on-going 24th Sessions of the Inter-Governmental Committee of Experts (ICE) of Southern Africa in Mauritius, Luke said that the AfCFTA, which has been signed by 49 of the 54 African countries and ratified by seven so far, will reduce trade costs and facilitate business expansion and in the process provide great opportunities for African businesses to gain from and contribute to Africa’s rapid market growth. “It will have only a small impact on tariff revenues while helping to restructure African economies to deliver a more sustainable fiscal base. This is because the AfCFTA helps to pivot Africa’s trade away from extractive exports towards more sustainable and inclusive trade that is less dependent on the fluctuations of commodity prices.” Africa faces a changing world trading landscape with many evolving external challenges, he said, adding the AfCFTA, against this, could serve as a platform for African trade policy coherence providing Africa with the strengthened voice of 1.2bn people in future negotiations, fostering a common position on evolving trade policy issues, and ensuring that individual bilateral arrangements do not unravel the objectives of continental integration. The ATPC chief said that to fully utilise the opportunities of the AfCFTA, each country is recommended...

Investment opportunities are expected to be seized as foreign relations between Kenya and Somaliland grow. Mr Bashe Awil Omar, Somaliland's envoy to Kenya, said his country seeks to ensure its ties with Kenya are cemented. "The cooperation between Kenya and Somaliland will see trade between the two countries grow. We will also work on improving security in the region and empower the hundreds of thousands of youth to invest or further their education," Mr Omar, the former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, said on Wednesday. With a liaison office already set up in Kenya, Mr Omar said he plans to meet Kenyan government officials to explore opportunities for the benefit of citizens. EDUCATION Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 and is seeking international recognition. "We (Kenya and Somaliland) are already working together when it comes to security and fighting terrorism in this region. But there is so much that remains to be done for us to cooperate and coexist together," he added. Among the areas that need to be bolstered are trade, agriculture, education and health. "These are the areas we want to work on. It is a tall order but I do believe we will soon get rid of restrictions and open the space for our people to easily travel between the two countries," he said. DP WORLD He said there are over 18,000 Somaliland citizens residing in Kenya, and as the bond improves more are expected to trickle in. Somaliland boasts of a stable and democratic...