Uganda has completed and launched the road connecting Ntungamo town, 360km southwest of Kampala, to the Mirama Hills/Kagitumba one-stop border post (OSBP) at the border with Rwanda. Officials at TradeMark Africa (TMA) and the government hope that the new road will drive more transporters to use the route to Kigali. Uganda’s Minister of Trade and Co-operatives Amelia Kyambadde said that traders and transporters are hardly using the road, into which the government has sunk more than $30 million since 2013. Data from TradeMark Africa shows that 27 per cent of the $30 million has been invested in construction of immigration points, warehouses and clearing and forwarding offices, as well as related information communication technology to link Ugandan and Rwandan officials on both sides of the border. The rest of the money was used to build the link road from Ntungamo to Mirama Hills. However, most transporters still prefer the use the Katuna/Gatuna OSBP. The road from Ntungamo through Gatuna to Kigali is 72 kilometres shorter than the one going through Mirama hills. According to some of the drivers, it is better to go through Gatuna because they only drive 87 kilometres in Rwanda territory where the country’s speed limits and road use laws are strict. Sarah Kasheka, the assistant commissioner in charge of business analysis at Uganda Revenue Authority, said the government decided to invest in the Mirama Hills border because it is cheaper and easier to build. Gatuna has a large swamp that will have to be filled before...

Mombasa Port received two "ultra-modern" diesel electric cranes last month as part of the "comprehensive program in supporting the Port of Mombasa's resilient port infrastructure initiatives," according to a statement from the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). The cranes, aimed at mitigating the negative effects on the environment, were funded by the Trade Mark East Africa (TMA) and the U.K. government’s International Climate Fund for $8.7 million, the KPA said. Additionally, multiple media outlets have reported that the KPA has received a 35 billion Kenya shilling (U.S. $338 million) loan from the Japanese government. According to the reports, KPA Managing Director Catherine Mturi-Wairi has said the authority will use the funds to begin second-phase construction on the second container terminal at the Mombasa Port. The second terminal was added to the port in early 2016, which boosted its container handling capacity by 50 percent. Slated for January 2018, the expansion of the second terminal will add 450,000 TEUs of handling capacity, reports state. The first phase, completed in September 2016, enabled the terminal to handle a total of 550,000 TEUs. Source: American Shipper

HAVE you noted that politicians are the same all over the world that is why they can promise to build a bridge where there is no river? These are people who lead terrible lives, when he is not straddling an issue, he is busy dodging one, but because they form part of the society, we must live with them and show them that they must not necessarily be leaders. To narrow the point home, as East Africa community citizens numbering over 150 million people, the bloc wants charismatic leaders capable of making the citizens shelve off poverty, fight diseases, ignorance and above all uprooting corruption to its roots. It may be debatable that leaders are born and not made despite education they may have or acquire to lead its people, but the business of a leader is to turn weaknesses into strengths, obstacles into stepping stones, and disasters into triumphs and that is exactly where John Pombe Magufuli (JPM) and Paul Kagame of Rwanda are leaders at the helm in the fight against corruption in their backyards (read EAC bloc). Recently, President Magufuli advised residents of Arusha (read citizens of EAC) to shun cheap politics saying: "There is no way we can ever make development strides by steeping into cheap politics that divide people; nobody here was born supporting any political party!" As citizens of the bloc, if we want economic growth/ development, we should never let an economic (development) question get into politics, because politicians make mistakes that is...

The East African trading bloc is set to adopt a uniform cargo tracking system as conflicting technologies being used are cited for border delays between Kenya and Tanzania. Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda use a joint real-time Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) while Tanzania has a mobile-based digital scheme. Officials say the incompatible technologies are responsible for delays at border points, which raises the cost of transporting goods in the region. Every truck passing through Tanzania has to fix a permanent device that costs $1,000 (Sh103,000) while those crossing to Kenya and partner states cannot load transit cargo. Following a meeting on September 8 between Kenya’s trade PS Chris Kiptoo and Tanzania counterpart Adolf Mkenda, the two countries agreed on the need to adopt a uniform regional cargo tracking system. “Kenya reported that she was not aware of the existence of a mobile tracking system. The East Africa Community (EAC) partner states had their own cargo tracking system, but EAC Secretariat are in the process of developing and adopting a regional Electronic Cargo Tracking system from entry point across the EAC. Both parties to urge EAC Secretariat to expedite adoption of the regional electronic cargo tracking system,” read a statement. The ECTS enables real time tracking of transit cargo from Mombasa port to its destination through an online platform monitored in the three countries. The Tanzania system tracks goods within its borders. READ: Kenya joins Uganda, Rwanda in common cargo tracking system The ECTS system comprises satellites, a monitoring centre and special...

Sometime last year when a group of Kenyan traders accused Tanzania of making their goods too expensive in its market by collecting the Railway Development Levy (RDL) on them, few bureaucrats paid much attention to the complaints. Kenya was the first country to introduce the RDL in 2013, which is collected at the rate of 1.5 per cent on home-bound imports. Unlike Uganda and Tanzania which have borrowed the idea, Kenya started on a wrong footing when it chose to levy the tax on nearly every import that came into its market, including those from the East African Community (EAC). Through their lobby, the East African Business Council, the region’s traders successfully talked the government out of the tax in 2014 — which they had labelled as one of the non-tariff barriers of the time. Kenya has a number of trade disputes with Tanzania but some bureaucrats believe collection of RDL is not one of them. The officials were somewhat vindicated when a Kenyan team led by trade PS Chris Kiptoo failed to produce evidence to back up their claims. Tanzania has been categorical that in has been collecting RDL in the last two years and like its other neighbours, it spares imports originating from EAC states. And so Tanzania’s trade and investment PS Adolf Mkenda told Kenya’s dispute resolution team lead by Dr Kiptoo: “Tanzania does not levy RDL on imports originating from EAC.” Away from bilateral trade disputes, the East African states seem to have realised the positive...

Northern Tanzania-bound cargo through Mombasa port accounted for 281 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) or 5.4 per cent to emerge the second transit destination in the week ended September 20. As usual Uganda retained its leading position, accounting for 4,228 TEUs or 81.2 per cent of the total transit bound traffic which stood at 5,208 TEUs. Other transit destinations included South Sudan which accounted for 279 TEUs, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo with 205 TEUs and Rwanda with 167 TEUs. Somalia and Burundi registered 29 TEUs and 11 TEUs respectively. During the week under review, the container terminals received nine vessels that recorded a ship average working time of 1.67 days. Container dwell time registered 4.25 days down from 5.55 days in the previous week. The container carriers discharged 10,193 TEUs and loaded another 11,356 TEUs. Containers delivered out of the port by road transport were 11,479 TEUs while the rail lifted 321 TEUs. The total yard population declined by 7,013 TEUs to 12,158 TEUs. The new population comprised 2,253 TEUS awaiting pickup order, 3,704 TEUs ready for collection and 1,659 TEUs full exports. Others included 967 TEUs for transhipment, 2,749 TEUs empties and 826 TEUs at the Customs Warehouse. Local bound imports also declined by 1,962 TEUs to settle at 2,423 TEUs. Container freight stations (CFSs) received 821,090 TEUs and delivered 817,645 TEUs leaving a balance of 3,445 TEUs. The Conventional Cargo Terminal received 25 general cargo vessels and handled 262,885 metric tonnes at an average of 37,555...

Dar es Salaam. The second phase of a project that seeks to strengthen manufacturing and productivity improvement in Tanzania will benefit a total of 100 industries, initiators have said. The project – supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) through its Kaizen initiative – will cover industries located in five regions in a period of two years, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Adelhem Meru has said. The Kaizen project intends to add value to industrial production in Tanzania. “This time around, the project – which ends in 2020 – will cover Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Mbeya and Singida regions,” Dr Meru said during the official launch the Kaizen Project on Tuesday. Some 52 enterprises from Dar es Salaam, Morogoro and Dodoma have benefited from the project during its first phase. According to Dr Meru, industries involved are now reporting improved productivity to the extent that others are even exporting their products to other countries. The first phase of the Kaizen Project was conducted between 2013 and 2016. It aimed at establishing a framework and the right methodology for improving productivity and quality of the products in a manufacturing enterprise. "Introducing and promoting Kaizen in Tanzania is indispensable for successful industrialization of the country," said the Jica chief representative in Tanzania, Mr Toshio Nagase. During the second phase, more focus will be on industries that deal in health and agricultural sectors. The word "Kaizen" originally comes from a Japanese language, directly translated as "Change to betterment"...

East African Community (EAC) member countries should embrace the culture of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), ensuring that disputes are determined using arbitration and other friendly mechanisms of addressing commercial disagreements. Justice Minister Johnston Busingye said this will help reduce the backlog of cases in the commercial courts, among others. “International arbitration has gradually grown over the past years, and given the increasing economic activities, it is becoming significant to our economic and justice sectors,” the minister said. “So, it is important that the justice sector creates an enabling environment for Alternative Dispute Resolution practice and also ensure that disputes are resolved using arbitration and other friendly mechanisms of dispute resolution. This will reduce the backlog in the courts.” Busingye was opening a three-day fellowship training programme organised by the Kigali International Arbitration Centre (KIAC) in partnership with Chattered Institute of Arbitration, UK. The training, that started on Monday in Kigali, ends September 27, and the trainees will acquire the Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). It attracted participants from Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and members of the East African Court of Justice. During the training, the participants will share experiences from their respective countries, and discuss appropriate strategies on how to overcome the key challenges that still hinder the successful implementation of ADR in the EAC bloc, according to the KIAC officials. Busingye said it imperative that all stakeholders “work jointly to develop this sector and provide the necessary conditions for it to grow further in a sustainable manner”. He...

Tanzania has retained business permit fees for Kenyan firms after nearly one year of gruelling negotiations. The move is seen to symbolise the country’s lack of enthusiasm for the 18- year-old trade pact among East African Community member states. Kenyan firms expanding or setting up subsidiaries in Tanzania have, however, won some relief after Tanzania cut the permit fee by half from Sh50,000 to Sh25,000. Tanzania upset its integration partners with the November 2015 introduction of permit charges with the enactment of the non-citizen employment regulation Act. The treaty, which took effect in 2010 demands the scrapping of visas and work permit fees charged on firms from neighbouring countries. Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have waived the work permit fees since 2013, leaving only Tanzania, Burundi and new entrant South Sudan with such restrictions. Efforts to scrap work permit have since taken several rounds of negotiations including the July direct communication between President Uhuru Kenyatta and President John Magufuli and the September 8 meeting between Trade principal secretary Chris Kiptoo and his Tanzanian counterpart, Adolf Mkenda. “Tanzania has revised business permit fees for EAC partner states to $250. The chiefs of immigration and labour commissioners will meet on October 31 to deliberate further on this matter,” Dr Kiptoo and Prof Mkenda said in a joint statement after their Dar meeting. During the meeting, Tanzania also agreed to cut by three quarters the expatriate work permit fees charged on EAC firms that send non-Tanzanian staff to work in the country. “Expatriate permit...

THE government in collaboration with various food processing industries is setting plans to boost production and supply of wheat flour in the East African region, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Investment, Prof Adolf Mkenda said yesterday. The PS said the idea was to increase the production and supply of wheat flour in the region and reduce importation of the product from abroad. “We have invited stakeholders in the area, we want our processing industries to produce enough wheat flour so that it could be supplied in the region,” he said at a Tanzania Broadcast Corporation (TBC) morning programme. In several occasions there have been talks between Tanzania and Kenya on the access of market for various products from the two countries. In April, for instance, Kenya banned Tanzania’s wheat flour from accessing its market. The country also raised concerns on cooking gas imports through the Kenya-Tanzania border on the disguise of safety and quality concerns. The PS said another talks are scheduled for November and that stakeholders in wheat businesses across the country have been invited. In June, this year, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that the World Wheat Production in the 2017/18 will be 739.53 million metric tonnes. Last year the production was 754.1 million tonnes. Tanzania produces an average of 75,000 tons per annum while Kenya is capable of producing 300,000 tonnes. Demand for wheat in Kenya currently stands at 1.5 million tonnes per year. The country thus imports the remaining 1.2...