The Ethiopian Electric Power (EEC), the state agency in charge of generating electricity, Ethiopia will start selling electricity to the neighboring Kenya as of next November. This is indicated by Hiwot Eshetu, acting head of Marketing and Business Development at EEC, who indicated that Ethiopia will sell electricity for Kenya for the coming 25 years. The energy deal between the two countries has three phases. During the first phase which is the first three years, Ethiopia will be selling between 25 megawatts to 200 megawatts depending on pick hours and down hours. During the second three years period the volume of energy Ethiopia will supply to Kenya will be increased up to 400 megawatts starting from 150 megawatts. During the third phase after the first six years, Kenya will be purchasing 400 megawatts of electricity from Ethiopia annually on average, according to Mr. Hiwot, who indicated that Ethiopia will be charging Kenya 6.5 US cents for a kilowatt-hour energy. He indicated that after five years there will be new negotiations about the tariff of the energy Ethiopia will be selling to Kenya. It is recalled that Ethiopia is at the moment earning over $100 million dollars annually from selling electricity to neighboring Djibouti and Sudan. By expanding its market, Ethiopia has also inked memorandum of understanding with South Sudan, Somaliland, and Tanzania to supply electricity from renewable energy sources mainly hydropower. It is recalled that the African Development Bank has financed the highway and electricity power transmission line connecting Ethiopia...

Trade by the SA Customs Union (SACU) within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is expected to start in a few months. Read original article

  Kenya’s shipping, transport and logistics sectors have been cited as key catalysts that will help spur the economic fortunes of the East African Community (EAC). This is as the country positions itself to reap big from the entry of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) into the regional economic bloc. The accelerated investment in the intermodal transport systems - majorly road, rail and port infrastructure affirms this strategy as Kenya eyes increased trade and commerce across the region. Speaking at the Port of Mombasa, EAC Principal Secretary Kevit Desai, who met stakeholders from the shipping, manufacturing, transport, and logistics sectors for an engagement session, said efficiency and competitiveness of port facilities is crucial since they are the engine of the logistics and supply chain sector. The principal secretary anticipated increased demand for the services in the region as the population of the EAC crosses the 300 million mark following the entry of DRC into the trading bloc. Mr Desai noted that with the recent ratification of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (ACfTA) by 44 countries, the ports of Mombasa and Lamu are expected to play an even bigger role in connecting EAC to the rest of the continent. “We not only target to serve DRC who recently joined the EAC, but also wish to connect the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean through trade,” he said. Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has invested billions of shillings in the construction and upgrade of infrastructure projects spanning various port facilities. This, Desai...

  The Swedish-Kenyan technology company Roam (formerly Opibus) has just launched an all-electric public transport bus called Roam Rapid specifically designed to meet the challenges of public transport in Africa. The manufacturer has also just signed an agreement to supply electric motorbikes with an African financing platform called M-Kopa. The Roam Rapid will initially be used in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Roam says the Roam Rapid electric bus offers space for up to 90 passengers and is equipped with a 384-kWh battery pack that should enable a range of 360 kilometres. The bus has a top speed of 70 km/h, and the battery can be fully charged in less than two hours via DC charging ports. According to the Kenyan-Swedish electric vehicle manufacturer, the Roam Rapid is the first bus in Kenya designed for mass transport. The company points out that this electric bus, therefore, paves the way for the next-generation public transport systems not only in Kenya but also elsewhere in Africa. The buses will be assembled locally in collaboration with local partners while some of the manufacturing processes will be carried out elsewhere in the region. The company says that a strong local presence will facilitate better customer service and create many jobs. “The solution Roam brings to the Kenyan market enables us to move people safely, comfortably and timely in both a sustainable and affordable way,” explained Dennis Wakaba, Project Coordinator, Roam. He pointed out that the bus is designed not only to increase comforts and lower...

  The Kenya Plastics Pact has published a roadmap to ensure all plastic packaging in the country is recyclable or reusable by 2030. More than 30 business members and supporters of the Kenya Plastics Pact, with representatives from every stage of the plastics packaging supply chain, have signed and endorsed the Roadmap. They include plastic packaging manufacturers, prominent FMCG brands, committed small and medium businesses, informal waste pickers’ associations and recyclers, influential industry associations, environmental NGOs, advocacy groups/civil society, and the national government, as well as the national government through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. The Kenya Plastics Pact Roadmap reflects a powerful voice for tangible change by 2030 and will guide and mobilize the industry to tackle plastic pollution by taking collective action. The Roadmap activities are elaborate and based on Kenya’s context and the current situation in the country in terms of waste management, plastic pollution, the economy, the policy landscape, and available infrastructure,” Pact’s Secretariat Lead Karin Boomsma said. Kenya’s daily plastic consumption is estimated to be 0.03 kg per person. Available data shows that the full amount of plastic that becomes waste in Kenya is approximately 0.5 to 1.3 million tonnes per year. Out of this, only 8% is recycled, with the remainder being landfilled or incinerated – or in the worst-case scenario, ending up in the environment. This is why plastic waste and pollution have particularly captured the attention of businesses, governments, and citizens in Kenya. According to KEPSA CEO Ms Carole Kariuki, a...

  Tanzanian companies have been granted exemption on imported products that attract 35 percent duty, barely a month after the EAC Common External Tariff came into force. In a legal notice signed by the EAC Council of Ministers chair Betty Maina, the companies can now import, at zero percent for a year, raw materials and inputs for the manufacture of wire products. The decision follows an application by Afriweld Industries, Tanuk Africa Ltd, MM Integrated Steel Mills and other firms for duty exemption. This came just as the region started to implement the four-band Common External Tariff (CET) structure that came into force on July 1. The structure has rates of zero, 10, 25 and 35 percent for all products imported into the EAC. The maximum tariff band of 35 percent was considered the most appropriate rate as it has a positive impact on regional growth. However, Tanzania’s successful application has raised questions on whether the determination of the maximum CET tariff rate is implementable when countries are facing a shortage of products that fall under the band. Among the finished products the companies want to import at zero percent are nails, welding electrodes, wire and wire mesh. “A remission of import duty is approved for Tanzania for 12 months to apply a duty rate of zero percent for the specified manufacturers on raw materials and inputs for the manufacturers of wire products,” said Ms Maina, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Trade and EAC. The private sector that pushed for the...

  Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making a profound difference in our lives, even if we do not always realize its overwhelming presence around us. Even the construction industry, generally regarded as a laggard in the adoption of cutting-edge technology, surprisingly has been quick to warm up to AI. According to an article by Construct Connect published April 12, 2022, resistance to change to digital experiences and the many manual, repetitive tasks hobble the industry with project delays, cost inefficiencies, and undermined productivity, health, and safety performance. Resistance to change to digital experiences and the many manual, repetitive tasks hobble the construction industry with project delays, cost inefficiencies, and undermined productivity, health, and safety performance Using artificial intelligence can be an important first step to addressing Africa’s infrastructure gap by allowing policymakers to benefit from having better information at their disposal and making more informed decisions AI’s impact on improving workplace safety and productivity is likely to be several orders of magnitude larger than its potential impact on job losses Using artificial intelligence can be an important first step to addressing Africa’s infrastructure gap by allowing policymakers to benefit from having better information at their disposal and making more informed decisions. The construction industry is ready to receive the potential process, health, safety, and production benefits from developing and implementing artificial intelligence. AI is changing every aspect of the infrastructure development process from predicting demand for new construction projects to designing materials and even constructing buildings. A related article by Business World published...

A worker from a tea company tastes tea samples in Mombasa, Kenya, Jan. 19, 2021. (Xinhua/Joy Nabukewa) Kenyan tea farmers and traders should embrace modern technology to boost production, African experts said Monday. NAIROBI, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan tea farmers and traders should embrace modern technology to boost production, African experts said Monday. Ebrima Sall, the executive director of Trust Africa, said that all stakeholders stand to reap maximum profit from the cash crop once modern technologies are adopted. "It has reached the time that old machinery that has been used for centuries be abandoned to help stakeholders improve efficiency in tea production and be able to supply the market in good time," Sall said at a forum in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. Sall noted that with the adverse effects of climate change, players in the tea value chain must embrace sustainable agricultural systems. He called upon key stakeholders to borrow and implement good practices that have been adopted by tea producers in the Asian continent. Edward Mudibo, the managing director of the East Africa Tea Trade Association, called for the enactment of a conducive policy environment in the country to save producers and other players in the sub-sector from exploitation. Mudibo noted that the policy will also help solve the burden of heavy taxation that is levied on Kenyan tea from production to export. He said that heavy-duty is imposed on Kenyan tea through the Integrated Customs Management System. A farmer picks tea leaves at a tea garden...

EAC economic experts have called for the finalization of regulations on Mutual Recognition of Academic and Professional Qualifications and a roadmap for the removal of restrictions to boost trade in services in the EAC bloc. Under the Common Market Protocol, EAC Partner States made commitments to liberalize seven priority service sectors including, Business, Communications, Distribution, Education, Financial, Tourism and Travel and Transport. Speaking at the Virtual Launch of the EABC Barometer on Trade in Services in the EAC, John Bosco Kalisa, EABC CEO, elaborated that legally all restrictions in the liberalised seven service sectors that were maintained by EAC Partner States in their schedule of commitment should have been removed by December 2015. EABC Barometer shows professional services of Legal, Accounting & Auditing Engineering have the highest number of restrictions at 35. Mr. Kalisa said “The EABC Barometer shows a very positive trend, as EAC Partner States have committed to liberalise 92 new sub-sectors under the revised schedule of progressive commitment.”  This lays the foundation to build an integrated EAC services market and will result into commercially meaning-full trade of services in the EAC bloc once implementation commences, Mr. Kalisa explained The new sub-sectors added are in key sectors like business services (37); transport services (36) and financial sector (10), which are all critical as key sectors in their own right and as intermediate inputs in the manufacture of goods and production of other services. EAC Partner States were also urged to adopt the One Network Area on telecommunication as...

Standard Bank Africa says Namibia finds it easier to trade in Africa than the rest of the world. According to the Standard Bank Trade Barometer report for June 2022, Namibia had the highest score of 27% compared to 10 other countries in the “very easy” section in Africa against 13% for the rest of the world. However, it is not only Namibia that is struggling to penetrate international markets, as Africa’s largest economy Nigeria also finds it most difficult to trade with the rest of the world, scoring 43% in that category. “This Africa Trade Barometer report is one of the most comprehensive research reports on the state of trade on the African continent as experienced on the ground by real African businesses,” said Bill Blackie, the Standard Bank’s Business and Commercial Clients division Chief Executive. The report offers a comparative view of the enablers and challenges to facilitating trade across 10 key African markets, he added. Data were collected principally from the World Bank, although underlying data sources ranged from the International Monetary Fund and the International Trade Centre to country central banks. According to the report, tariffs are a major obstacle to trade within Africa and the rest of the world, while forex restrictions and controls are seen as less severe obstacles to trading. Notable obstacles to trading in Africa include customs and trade regulations, power outages, and customs requirements (top three obstacles). “In the rest of the world, severe trading obstacles include customs and trade regulations, customs...