Import time has reduced by 14 per cent in Rwanda as a result of the removal of key non-tariff barriers (NTBS), according to a survey by TradeMark Africa. The report also revealed a 20 per cent decrease in the time it takes to export goods from East African countries, therefore increasing trade in the region. There is progress to facilitate the fast movement of goods but a key 112 barriers identified, 87 resolved and the remaining 25 still need to be addressed. "Unfortunately we keep working in them and new NTBS come up, so it is key that we try and prohibit the rise of new NTBS within the region," said Anataria Karimba, Senior Programme Manager at TradeMark Africa. "I think for us now it’s going into the next phase of funding for trademark, is to actually make an assessment on how the reduction in time and in cost actually translates down to revenue to the private sector and in the long run to the citizens of each of the EAC countries," Karimba said. Trademark broke-even, after investing heavily in the reduction of such barriers from some of the savings through course and time reduction, now it’s going into a new phase. Rwanda - Projects "That's why we find it relevant to actually invest more because we have seen that the actual reductions that cover the rate of investment that we have put in." The organisation has also been looking at a way to harmonise the tax regime of the...

It is about 15 months to the eagerly awaited commissioning of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line between Mombasa and Nairobi. This is a massive infrastructural project whose total construction cost has been put at Sh327 billion. Tens of contractors and thousands of hardworking Kenyans in different sections of the 472 km line from Mombasa to Nairobi are currently replacing huge mounds of earth with tonnes of metal that will create the first ever high capacity railway line in the region. The East African region is a perfect example of how land transport infrastructure like a railway line can revolutionize an economy. For more than a century, the East African Railway gave birth to centres, towns and cities along the corridor and across the region. The coming of the SGR will thus be a game-changer in transport; it will for instance take a traveller just four and a half hours from Mombasa to Nairobi by rail, reducing time spent on travelling, with cargo train speed of up to 80kms/hr and passenger trains at 120km/hr. As we move closer to the completion of the first phase of the SGR, it is noble to note that the new network will be vital for business, supply chains and investment in the region. Once completed, the modern, high capacity Standard Gauge Railway will carry on each train a trailing load of 4,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to 216 TEU containers per trip. This is expected to raise Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product, or total economic...

A week ago, it was officially announced that South Sudan is now a member of the East African Community (EAC). However considering the uncertainity that still prevails in that country, I wonder whether the EAC was not premature in admitting this country. This is not to say that South Sudan is not a worthy candidate. Only that its present circumstances makes it difficult to understand who exactly you are dealing with. Riek Machar is still missing in action and has been giving several exccuses as why he cannot come to Juba and form the coalition government as agreed in the reconciliation talks. Even the urgings of such powers as the United States and China has failed to move him. As for the EAC, the question is how can  regionally integrate a country that is internally disintegrated? I would have thought that the EAC Summit Heads, should have given South Sudan a transition period before taking up full EAC membership. This would have given the leaders time to come to terms with their political differences and reach a lasting solution. As I see it, South Sudan cannot give the guarantees necessary to be a part of the EAC. Can the Juba authorities live up to the terms under the Common Market Protocol? The security situation in many parts of the country are not encouraging for trade. Like most East Africans, I pray the situation is rectified soon. Source: Business Week

Most missed out the big story in the recent visit to Rwanda by Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli.  Media outlets highlighted the event where the visiting president and his host President Paul Kagame opened the Rusumo one-stop border post. It was mentioned that the one stop border would ease trade and business operations as the two East African community members are governed by a single customs territory.  During the two days visit, President Magufuli also joined Rwandans in the commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi. He accompanied his host to light the flame of hope that will keep burning for the next 100days; the duration of the Genocide period. In as much as the two events highlighted by the media were very significant in gauging the relationship between the two neighboring countries, I beg to differ.  The big story was not in the two events mentioned above, but rather in the essence and significance of the Africa culture where president Kagame gave five cows to his visitor. The event was either mentioned in passing or totally ignored. It came to my realization that  schools of journalism have taught us  to tell stories from the Western point of view thereby influencing the African journalist to be  alienated from his native culture, hence the failure to tell the African story ‘brewed in an African pot’. When Kagame hosted Magufuli at his private home, they had time to talk about a number of issues concerning their countries and their personal and family...

A matter of intense speculation has finally been decided. For years, landlocked Uganda has tried to decide who to partner with for getting oil from its the western Hoima disrict—home to some 1.7 billion barrels of oil, one of East Africa’s largest reserves—to the Indian Ocean for trade: Tanzania or Kenya. According to a communique from African officials this weekend, the pipeline will run through Tanzania. It’s a bitter blow for Kenya, which competed fiercely for the project. Instead Tanzania won the prize, and will share the costs of construction with Uganda in what promises to become one of Africa’s newest oil-exporting regions. At a summit of regional leaders held yesterday (April 24), Uganda’s foreign minister Sam Kutesa said that his country would be building the 1,400-kilometer (800-mile) pipeline to the Tanzanian port of Tanga. Officials expect its completion by mid-2020. The fight was between not just East African countries, but some of the world’s largest oil companies, as well. France’s Total, China’s CNOOC, and the UK’s Tullow share the rights to explore Uganda’s oil reserves. Total, one of Uganda’s largest oil investors, favors the winning Tanzanian route. Tullow wanted the Kenyan route, which would have required building a 1,500-kilometer pipeline through northern Kenya. The Tanzanian route is cheaper and easier—at $4 billion about $1 billion less than the Kenya alternative. Plus, Tanzania waived taxes and transit charges on the oil being transported. Tullow discovered oil near Kenya’s Lake Turkana in 2011. The pipeline was a key part of Kenya’s...

The Dar es Salaam-Isaka-Kigali/Keza-Musongati (DIKKM) standard gauge railway (SGR) project is progressing well, an official said. Eng. Jules Ndenga, the acting special project implementation unit coordinator at the Ministry of Infrastructure, said this following a recent joint technical monitoring committee meeting in Arusha, Tanzania. “Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda are continuing the joint development of the DIKKM railway project. The recent meeting in Arusha was a joint technical meeting aimed at extending the contract for the transaction advisory services that had expired on December 31, 2015,” Eng. Ndenga told The New Times last week from Kampala, Uganda. The extension of services being processed will end this month. The Arusha meeting, which was attended by officials from various entities, including finance, environment and land departments from the three countries agreed on the contract terms and conditions and the Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA), will procure it on behalf of the three countries. “The consultant will develop the request for proposals document to be issued for the recruitment of a public-private partner. There is no major challenge to report as all the pending issues were addressed by the inter-ministerial meeting held in Mwanza in February.” The February 13 meeting was attended by ministers of transport from the three countries and other officials. A joint communiqué issued after the meeting indicates that the ministers reaffirmed their full commitment to further deepen and broaden the relationship for the mutual benefit of the three countries and their citizens. “The ministers commended the prevailing commitment among the...

Gowling WLG's infrastructure team, led by partner Jonathan Brufal and senior associate Tom Gray, have been working with TradeMark Africa and the government of Rwanda to improve transport infrastructure to and from Rwanda. Here they discuss the flagship Kigali Logistics Programme, a game-changing new internal port that will have wide-reaching benefits for trade and Rwanda when it comes online in mid-2017, and the future of trade and infrastructure in the region. Freight costs in East Africa can be as much as 50% higher than those in Europe or America. Journeys across borders and through roadblocks take days when they could take hours. A lack of suitable infrastructure, technology and expertise affects everything from road maintenance to customs and excise, storage to onward transportation. But does the construction of new transport networks, such as the standard gauge railway which will eventually link Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, various toll roads planned or already developed, or the recently signed Kigali Logistics Platform (KLP) concession, herald a new era for trade and logistics in East Africa and beyond? With a growing regional economy and innovative infrastructure transactions such as the KLP concession, the potential exists for significant change. Rwanda's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM), with Gowling WLG advising in conjunction with Deloitte and TradeMark Africa, recently completed a concession agreement with DP World for the development and operation of the KLP - an inland port for the collation and onward distribution of goods. DP World has been awarded a 25-year concession to construct...

According to the 2015 African Economic Outlook, East African countries will record the fastest economic growth in the continent in 2015 and 2016. In Kenyaalone, increased fiscal spending on infrastructure projects and robust private sector consumption mean that GDP growth is projected at 6% for 2016, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Beyond 2016, East Africa is forecast to become the continent’s fastest growing region economically. Infrastructure in East Africa has historically been among the world’s least developed. But the region has now caught the eye of international construction firms looking to enter the African market: economic growth and infrastructure development are interdependent and mutually supportive. In our 36 years of operation in the region, Spencon has witnessed first-hand the surge of interest from foreign firms looking to leverage opportunities in the region, and we have partnered with many international companies and development agencies to deliver projects locally. Booming populations, rapid urbanisation and a growing middle class has spurred many African governments to prioritise national and regional infrastructure. Experts estimate that the region needs around US$100bn investment per year over the next decade to close the infrastructure gap and catch up with the rest of the world on basic requirements. But the funding is there. Since 2007, foreign direct investment projects in East Africa have grown at 19.9% a year, the strongest in Africa. A recent KPMG Global Construction Survey found that over 50% of senior leaders in the construction and engineering industry see the continent as one of the...

It will be easier and cheaper to use your data bundles on different telecommunication platforms within four East African countries from July 1, following the adoption of a price cap per megabyte on mobile data roaming scheme. Across all the networks, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan have agreed on a proposal of a maximum retail tariff of $0.11 per MB inclusive of taxes, billed on a per-kilobyte basis. A maximum inter-operator tariff of $0.07 per MB has also been adopted. The implementation of these tariffs will however be reviewed periodically. The development follows an earlier directive by the EAC heads of state to the four countries that telecommunications companies in the region remove tariff charges for short message services (SMS) and data in order to fully implement the One Network Area initiative they adopted in 2014. The drop in roaming charges is expected to stimulate growth in the telecommunications sector and promote cross-border trade. High data costs while roaming have seen most mobile users shift from the use of data tariffs and adopt over-the-top services such as WhatsApp, Viber and Hangout. In Uganda, for example, an operator using fibre optic cable charges Safaricom subscribers $0.4 per MB while those using satellite charge $0.7 per MB. Airtel charges a standard rate of $0.5 per MB for data roaming in Uganda and Rwanda. Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan last year adopted the harmonised money transfer guidelines and uniform rates developed by their central banks and communications commissions with the aim of boosting trade...

This past week has come with so much drama it feels like the week even had more days than the weeks before. I have to keep reminding myself that South Sudan is now part of us (East African Community) and so I make an effort to keep track of what is happening there. As I wrote this, the whole country was still waiting for Dr. Riek Machar, to fly back to Juba and be reinstated as the deputy to President Salva Kiir. Each time Dr. Machar is to fly a disagreement comes up on how many soldiers and weapons he can be allowed to come with to Juba. Journalists have been extending their hotel stays as they wait for this big man to show up. This standoff has put the whole peace process in question for a young country trying to recover from a civil war that cost many lives and property. The above situation sometimes makes me wonder whether admitting South Sudan to the EAC happened at the right time or could have waited a bit for them to sort out their issues or if it in anyway serves to push them towards resolving their issues so they can look good when with other EAC members. In the same breath Burundi continues to ail with its political mess that is slowly eating it up. Kenya gave us something to smile about when their Rugby 7s team won the HSBC Sevens World Series in Singapore by thrashing the highest ranked...