Trade and investment opportunities as well as regional and international co-operation will feature high on the agenda during visit by South African President Jacob Zuma who is expected in the country tomorrow for a three-day state visit on the invitation of President John Magufuli. Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Co-operation, Dr Augustine Mahiga, told a news conference in the city yesterday that the South African leader's delegation will include six ministers and 80 businesspersons. The visit by President Zuma follows a meeting with Dr Magufuli during the 28th African Union (AU)'s Heads of State meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. "President Zuma will arrive in Tanzania on May 10 (Wednesday) evening and he will be received by his host, President Magufuli," Dr Mahiga explained. During the visit, the two leaders will as well witness the signing of three agreements on co-operation in environment, energy and transport. Apart from the three agreements, the two countries are presently in negotiations on other areas of co-operation such as health, education, infrastructure and trade in addition to trade, investment, tourism and irrigation farming. On May 11, this year, President Zuma and his host will hold private talks and thereafter take part in a meeting to include delegates from the two countries. "It is after the meetings that the two leaders will witness the inking of the three agreements on environment, energy and transport," Dr Mahiga, a veteran diplomat, told reporters. Adding; "Discussions are also underway on co-operation in other areas, including the education...

As the country prepares to commission the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) at the end of this month, it is important to understand that its economic benefits will be fully realized only if we put the necessary supporting infrastructure and policies in place. This is especially true for the freight component of the business that the SGR is expected to handle. The ongoing expansion and modernization of the Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Embakasi is, therefore, critical. The ongoing works, estimated to cost a total of Sh21 billion, and on which China Road and Bridge Construction (CRBC) is the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor, will not only provide a solution for some of the capacity constraints facing the Port of Mombasa but will also improve the overall efficiency of cargo transport within the Northern Corridor and optimize the utilisation of the SGR. With the expected improvement in capacity, cargo aggregation points like the port of Mombasa and the ICD will need to expand in tandem. This way, they can keep up with the heightened evacuation capacity of the new track, both for the containerized and bulk cargo. The numbers tell the story of a massive rise in transportation capacity that we must be prepared for. Each freight train will, for instance, pack a haulage volume of 216 Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit or a trailing load of 40,000 tons, moving at 80km per hour. Annually, the SGR is designed to move a significant 22 million tonnes. Ongoing works at the Embakasi...

A newly designed Short Messaging Service for reporting trade barriers within the tripartite regional economic blocs has been launched. The SMS will supplement the current web based online system for reporting, monitoring and elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) used by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc). The Tripartite online reporting system is a real-time, mechanism for reporting, processing, monitoring and resolving NTBs and is available on www.tradebarriers.org. It was operationalised in November 2010. The SMS tool was first launched in 2013 in Zambia to facilitate a diverse spectrum of economic operators, especially the informal and small scale traders who may not have access to the internet. “At the time the design of the SMS reporting too, there was a central number to which the economic operators in different countries could send the SMS messages to report the trade obstacles that they could have encountered,” Mr Tasara Muzorori, senior trade officer in Comesa said. This was expensive for the economic operators as it involved incurring roaming charges. “It was also a challenge to publicise that central number to the relevant players in each of the countries as the foreign numbers did not identify with local users,” Mr Muzorori said. “Further, the system was faced with sustainability challenges as it was operated outside the National NTBs structures thereby requiring continued donor support to cater for administration costs.” This led to the re-design of the SMS system whereby each...

The Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, has directed government institutions at the Dar es Salaam Port to operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week (24/7), starting tomorrow, to reduce dwell time and make it competitive. The Prime Minister said during the 10th Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) meeting that all government institutions including Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) and Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) should reschedule their working hours to enable the port operate 24/7. "From tomorrow, I want implementation of this directive," he said at the meeting in response to complaints of inefficiency at the Dar es Salaam Port from the Chairperson of the Tanzania Truck Owners Association, Angelina Ngalula. Ms Ngalula had said that dwell time at the port was between 10-13 days which makes it uncompetitive in the region as its closest rival, Mombasa Port had dwell time of 3-4 days. She said that there was lack of coordination between government institutions which contribute to delays in cargo clearance at the port. No one is bothering to know why cargo clearance takes that long. There are so many institutions, but they have no coordination," she complained. The Prime Minister said the government understands red tape. The World Bank said in 2015 that inefficiencies at Dar es Salaam Port cost Tanzania and its neighbours up to 2.6 billion US dollars a year. Kenya's Mombasa port, which is the largest in the region, is much more efficient. If Dar es Salaam...

The six member States of the East African Community (EAC) are set to meet this week in Rwanda to push for the implementation of the One Area Mobile Network, officials said on Monday. Kenya's Communication Authority Director General Francis Wangusi told Xinhua that Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan are already part of the single network. "Later this week EAC ministers in charge of telecommunications will discuss ways to fast track operationalization of the single network," Wangusi said on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 36th Ordinary Session of the Administrative Council of the pan-African postal union. Once the single area network is effective, all intra-EAC mobile tariffs will be harmonized so that the calls within the trading bloc will be treated as local calls. Wangusi said that the overall objective is to reduce the cost of communication in the region. "It is unfortunate that it is cheaper to call Europe, Asia and the US from EAC partner states than it is to call other member states," said Wangusi. While South Sudan has joined the single network, it is yet to implement the network, and Tanzania will have to amend its telecom laws before it becomes part of the network. Wangusi said that due to civil strife in Burundi, it may take the country longer than expected to join the single mobile network. The one area network will be a building block to the Smart Africa Initiative that aims to make Africa a single mobile area network. Wangusi...

East Africa still seems relatively unloved as a petroleum province and yet it has a number of positive aspects: There is a regional entity, the East African Community, which draws together Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania (but not Mocambique). There is a declared ambition to bring energy to the combined population of 150+ million but little yet in the way of actual development or actionable plans. Post Brexit, the UK Department of International Trade (DIT) has declared an Oil & Gas High Value Campaign for East Africa, the aim being to deliver opportunities for UK companies in the region. DIT has representatives in-country and an officer in Whitehall who carries the regional responsibility: DIT's current early focus seems to be on the big gas (LNG) developments offshore Tanzania and Mocambique (see 3.). There is no shortage of resources and reserves. Significant oil has been found onshore in the rift plays of Uganda and Kenya; there is commercial gas under production in Tanzania, and at least one further discovery; there are world class (??100 Tcf) gas discoveries offshore Tanzania and Mocambique; there is the potential for a significant oil play in the coastal region from northern Mocambique, through Tanzania, potentially into Kenya, first evidence of which may be provided by recent wells drilled by Aminex in Tanzania and Sasol in Mocambique, There is current production of gas in Tanzania at Songo Songo, Kiliwani-North and Mnazi Bay. There is an under-utilised pipeline from the producing fields up to Dar-es- Salaam. A possible starting...

The Prime Minister said during the 10th Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) meeting that all government institutions including Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) and Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) should reschedule their working hours to enable the port operate 24/7. “From tomorrow, I want implementation of this directive,” he said at the meeting in response to complaints of inefficiency at the Dar es Salaam Port from the Chairperson of the Tanzania Truck Owners Association, Angelina Ngalula. Ms Ngalula had said that dwell time at the port was between 10-13 days which makes it uncompetitive in the region as its closest rival, Mombasa Port had dwell time of 3-4 days. She said that there was lack of coordination between government institutions which contribute to delays in cargo clearance at the port. No one is bothering to know why cargo clearance takes that long. There are so many institutions, but they have no coordination,” she complained. The Prime Minister said the government understands red tape. The World Bank said in 2015 that inefficiencies at Dar es Salaam Port cost Tanzania and its neighbours up to 2.6 billion US dollars a year. Kenya's Mombasa port, which is the largest in the region, is much more efficient. If Dar es Salaam Port reached the same level of efficiency as Mombasa, the economy will gain almost 1.8bn US dollars a year, according to a World Bank analysis. Tanzania signed a 565 million US dollar deal in 2014 with the World...

The soaring cost of living in the country has forced scores of Busia residents to cross into Uganda to shop for basic commodities. A spot check by The Standard showed locals crossing the border to buy essential items like sugar, milk, maize and wheat flour, which are more affordable there. Retail shops in Uganda are selling a kilo of sugar at Sh150 compared to local supermarkets in Busia, where the cost has reached Sh200. Meanwhile, unscrupulous business people have taken advantage of the unavailability of basic goods in local markets to smuggle them into the country. Ugandan sugar and milk are finding their way through the porous borders of Busia and Malaba before being sold exorbitantly in Kenyan shops. The manager of a mini-supermarket located less than two kilometres on the Ugandan side confirmed that for the last one week, Kenyans have been swarming to the chain store to shop. "Most of our customers for the last one week have been coming from Kenya. They don't buy in bulk but in small quantities, certainly for family use," he confirmed. Busia Traders Association chairman Stephen Obala blamed the devolved units for doing little to safeguard Kenyans from the high cost of living. "The problem we are experiencing now cannot be blamed on the national government alone but the county governments as well because the essence of devolution was to bring resources nearer to the people," said Mr Obala. Mary Anyango, one of the Kenyans who cross into Uganda to shop, the...

Passengers on the up-coming Nairobi-Mombasa railway will pay a concessional fee priced at half the fare being charged by buses, says Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia. He said passengers will enjoy a six-month offer during which there will be two train services plying the standard gauge railway – one to Nairobi and another to Mombasa – to help gauge the demand for passengers. The new train launches on May 31. A final report on the passenger and cargo tariffs will be out in a week, the minister said. This means economy travellers on the high-speed train will pay between Sh500 and Sh800; being half what buses charge for the journey between the capital and the seaside port of Mombasa. “The cost will be half of what the buses are currently charging,” Mr Macharia told the Sunday Nation. “Various teams are working on the details,” he added. President Uhuru Kenyatta will take a symbolic ride on May 31 aboard the high-speed train ahead of celebrations to mark Madaraka Day on June 1, when Kenya attained self-internal rule from Britain. Kenya has already procured 40 passenger coaches, each with a capacity of 118 travellers, for the economy class, 72 people in the business class, and 44 in the first-class section. The Transport minister said the government is banking on speed, reliability and pricing of the new railcars to attract passengers who use buses and budget airlines. The SGR passenger trains will run at an average speed of 120km per hour, cutting...

The 2017/18 East African Community budget will be relatively smaller compared to the current closing financial year owing to the current economic situation, regional ministers have decided. During the recent meeting of the Council of Ministers in Arusha, Tanzania, the bloc’s Secretary General, Amb. Libérat Mfumukeko, submitted a budget proposal for financial year 2017/18 amounting to $113.8 million compared to the current budget of $101.4 million. “Owing to the current economic situation, all partner states are experiencing rationalisation of their national budgets and, therefore, it would be difficult to increase contributions to the EAC Budget,” reads a report of the central decision-making organ of the Community. “The meeting, therefore, agreed to a zero per cent increase in partner states contributions to the 2017/18 Budget.” The Council observed that although there is no increase in the individual partner states’ contribution, countries’ total contribution will increase after including contribution from the Community’s new member, South Sudan. From May 22 to June 3, the final sitting of the third East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), in Arusha, Tanzania, will mainly debate the budget estimates as adopted by the Council. MP Patricia Hajabakiga, chairperson of EALA Rwanda Chapter, told The New Times that nothing much is likely to change. “Of course the budget voted by EALA cannot go beyond the ceiling provided by the partner states. It is only rationalising within what is already available,” Hajabakiga said. “In case some institution needs something and maybe some other institution has excess then they will rationalise within...