DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Continued investments in trade infrastructure as well as the dismantling of bureaucratic and procedural barriers to economic integration is positioning the East African Community (EAC) as the destination of choice for doing business. Senior officials from consultants, TradeMark Africa (TMA) were last week launching their annual report covering the period 2013/2014. Recently they did the same for Uganda a couple of weeks ago. TMA is the lead advisor for improving trade flows across the region. Partnership between TMA and the East African governments has been described as vital in achieving the great progress in delivering seven key One Stop Border Posts (OSBP) across East Africa this year. This has helped increase physical access to markets for both formal and informal traders. Nelson Karanja, the TMA Communications Manager said pilot operations at the Kobero/Kabanga between Tanzania and Burundi borders already indicate a two-day reduction in transit times at Kabanga for cargo trucks. There has also been a reduction in tedious formalities for traders which previously had an adverse impact on time and costs of business. Karanja was giving a presentation in an event which was officiated by Tanzania’s Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of East Africa Cooperation Joyce Mapunjo. George Lauwo, Director in Tanzania’s Ministry of East African Cooperation, who represented the PS, expressed appreciation of TMA work in East Africa and Tanzania in particular. He reiterated that the government was very pleased with the partnership with TMA, who continue to work with partners in...

Technocrats from the Central Corridor countries of Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda meeting in Kigali, this week, commended the level of political will that has been demonstrated by the leaders of the regional countries to ensure the trade route's efficiency. It was noted that Tanzania had lately taken significant steps toward addressing longstanding Non-Tariff Barriers along the corridor, including ending cargo theft at the port of Dar-es-Salaam, an endemic phenomenon that had increasingly frustrated businesses from other countries, including Rwanda. This, among other challenges like unnecessary weighbridges and corruption along the corridor, had forced many to turn to the Northern Corridor which links to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. Tanzanian officials also announced that they had taken a raft of measures to make the route more efficient, including putting in place infrastructure and services that would help cut transport costs. That technocrats are already implementing the decisions taken at the Central Corridor presidential round-table in March, including acquisition of new wagons and commencement of block trains to facilitate faster movement of cargo from Dar to areas closer to respective destinations (neighbouring countries), is commendable and indeed encouraging. While the Northern Corridor, which serves Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi, has seen tremendous improvements in recent years, the Central Corridor had been heavily affected by endless trade barriers that only needed political will to address. But recent developments along the corridor signal a renewed commitment to translate policies into real action. In the end, if business thrives along...

THE government is committed to working with the private sector to make sure Tanzania played active role in the regional integration process, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of East African Cooperation, Ms Joyce Mapunjo, has said. She said in Dar es Salaam that the government was welcoming more engagement with the private sector to address issues that affect trade and investments in the country. "The government is very much committed to work with the private sector to improve the business environment," she told the East African Community Secretary General forum with the Chief Executive Officers of business organisations in the EAC region. The PS encouraged the private sector to engage more with the government on matters affecting trade and investments and noted the government would even entertain informal meetings to speed up process of addressing particular hassles to the private sector. "We support more engagement with the private sector. Formal and even informal arrangements are most of the times entertained to make things go faster," she said. The PS said the government was working on tax and standard harmonization, two areas that have been raised by the private sector as a problem in efforts to boost trade and investments in the region. She said non-tariff barriers to trade was an area where the government made significant progress but noted addressing the NTBs was a continuous process calling for the cooperation of the private sector. Earlier, the Secretary General of the East African Community, Dr Richard Sezibera, said there were...

Ongoing protests in Burundi against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to stand for re-election poses a great threat to the East African Community trade links if not dealt with at its early stages. The protest which began on 26th April has recorded a total death toll of 30 people. East African Community Heads of State are currently meeting to resolve the conflict in Burundi and further urge Mr Nkurunziza to drop his decision to run for a third term. The ongoing civil war is set to affect the present comprehensive economic ties between the countries and there is a great possibilities of trade barriers on trade within the region. Economy experts who have been following on the growing trend of the East African Community (EAC) trade state that if the civil war intensify, economic efforts within the region will be thwarted. The police have however taken charge of the protest as East African Community Heads of States are hastening process and procedures to ensure the civil war is brought to a stop. Source: Intelligence Briefs.com

TRA Commissioner General, Rished Bade told the ‘Daily News’ on Tuesday that the Commissioner of Customs and Excise was probing the company which operates goods sheds at Dar es Salaam port. “We are investigating them,” he said shortly in a written message to this newspaper adding that details of investigations and action that will be taken will be announced later after finishing the probe. Bridge Shipping which is part of C. Steinweg Bridge (Pty) Ltd is a member of the C. Steinweg group of companies and has over 30 years of experience as a logistics company in Southern Africa. The Group has a wellestablished footprint of blue chip clients in the agriculture, mining and minerals, project cargo, bulk containerised commodities and raw materials industry segments throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. At Dar es Salaam port, the company caters mainly for hinterland of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. The services offered are warehousing, port forwarding, transport and fumigation services, mainly for the commodities which includes minerals, metals, cotton and tobacco. Responding to allegations that Bridge Shipping is illegally undertaking clearing and forwarding business in the country, its Johannesburg based Legal Officer, Taryn Janse Van Rensburg said the company works with a local partner. “I wish to set the record straight… Bridge Shipping is not a licensed clearing agent with TRA. We subcontract clearing services to a local Tanzania clearing agent who are registered with TRA. We are however a licensed freight forwarder,” Ms Rensburg explained. She also...

In the same period, the government will also embark on intensive improvements on Tanga and Mtwara ports as well as refurbishing all ports along the country’s lake shorelines to improve their operational efficiency. Moving his office’s budget estimates for the 2015/16 financial year in the National Assembly here, Mr Pinda, who devoted most of his time to explain achievements recorded by the Fourth Phase government since 2005, said that the government registered remarkable progress in setting up vital infrastructures for socio-economic development. He affirmed that in the same period, the government did a lot to improve the country’s largest port – Dar es Salaam, to the extent of enabling it to handle 14.4 million tonnes of cargo in 2014/201; up from 12 million tonnes that were being handled in 2012/2013. He noted that under President Jakaya Kikwete’s leadership that started in 2005, the government has completed construction to tarmac level of 1,226 kilometres of roads that were started in the Third Phase of the Union Government under former President Benjamin Mkapa. He added that there were also fresh works on 1,305 kilometres all over the country in the period between 2005 and 2015. “The government also rehabilitated 960 kilometres while constructing 393 kilometres of regional roads to bituminous standards in the same period,” the prime minister told the House. According to Mr Pinda, the work done bringsall the roads constructed and rehabilitated under the Fourth Phase into tarmac level to 3,884 kilometres. The PM affirmed that with such tremendous effort,...

CARGO clearance from Dar es Salaam port to Inland Container Depots has almost stalled as trucks are stuck in flooded potholed roads. “We are desperate, the roads are flooded and trucks can’t get through,” said a frustrated Container Depots Association of Tanzania (CDAT) Chairman, Ashraf Khan. Mr Khan who is also General Manager of Azam ICD noted that poor infrastructure and heavy rains are stalling progress in cargo clearance from Dar port to ICDs and their final destinations. He urged authorities to quickly address the problem of flooded roads particularly those connecting ICDs to the country’s prime port. “If you come to ICDs in the Chang’ombe and Kurasini areas, they are submerged in water, cargo trucks can’t move,” the CDAT Chairman, pointed out. Khan further noted that impassable roads are delaying cargo clearance hence affecting the efficiency of Dar es Salaam port which targets to reduce cargo clearing time from seven to five days by end this year. Last month, Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Transport, Dr Shabaan Mwinjaka launched a Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Modernisation (DMGM) project, which among other things, seeks to improve infrastructure within the port and its ICDs. The project which is backed by World Bank and Department for International Development’s 593 million US dollars (over 1.1bn/) soft loan and grant, will see the country’s prime port improve infrastructure and manpower. Dr Mwinjaka said by 2020, Dar port should be able to handle third generation cargo ships with its main feeder roads. “Some people had...

Rukia Shamte, the executive secretary of CCTTFA (L), and Peterson Mutabazi, an engineer in charge of transport at the Ministry of Infrastructure, exchange ideas during the Central Corridor stakeholders’ meeting in Kigali yesterday. (Doreen Umutesi) The meeting has brought together over 50 participants from the public and private sectors of Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Benjamin Mbimbi, an official from Tanzania’s ministry of Transport, said his government will not leave any stone unturned as it continues to improve transport infrastructure and services so as to reduce transport costs. “We acquired new wagons and this has greatly improved the reliability and efficiency of our central railway network. After the presidential round-table in Dar es Salaam, in March, we’ve commenced the block trains from Dar es Salaam to Isaka, Mwanza and Kigoma, with cargo destined to Uganda, DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi,” Mbimbi said. Tanzania’s intention, he said, is to have one block train “for each country, per week.” A block train, also called a unit train or a trainload service, is a train in which all wagons carry the same commodity and are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route. Mbimbi said his government has also contained cargo theft at the port. However, he acknowledged, there is room for improvement and he hopes all members states will “join hands” to implement planned activities. Burundi’s Vital Narakwiye stressed that, for his landlocked country, the Central Corridor is a route of...

Africa’s infrastructure spend is set to rise as a report reveals that 30 per cent of the infrastructure is dilapidated. According to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report, it indicated that East, Southern and West Africa could be spending up to $180 billion on infrastructure by 2025. The report highlights that at least 60 to 70 per cent of that amount is owed to infrastructure in South Africa and Nigeria. The West African country was leading due to the fundamentals of the oil price and naira shifts being stable despite being presently supressed. Head of capital projects and infrastructure at PwC, Jonathan Cawood, said that infrastructure outlook will be increasing by 10 per cent per annum. Cawood told CNBC Africa there is a “great sense of enthusiasm, commitment and willingness to engage in new ideas” from government developers, funders and operators of infrastructure. The strong relationship between China and African economies could see the Asian country being a key player in terms of funding, knowhow and labour. Although Cawood notes that localisation and local participation should be a priority moving forward. Capital innovation for infrastructure requires clarity of regulatory frameworks, so that investors feel “more secure” of their long-term nature. Shortage of funding came out as the main issue in the PwC survey, however Cawood said after unpacking it, there was actually “a tremendous amount of funding available”. “It’s really about better project preparation and feasible projects that are part of a bigger longer term master plan.” On the issue of...

Regional business with Burundi has been slowing at an alarming rate in the past weeks amid persistent protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid to run for a third term in office. When The New Times visited the Nemba One Stop Border Post, on Thursday, the usually active border crossing was relatively dormant. Besides a visiting team of regional experts who were visiting to assess operations at the border post, immigration and customs officers were attending to very few travelers. Shops, forex bureaus and tea houses operating at the border were open but no clients streamed in and out. "Things are not good today. I am contemplating closing. I am wasting time here," said a forex bureau dealer who preferred anonymity. Four of his colleagues sat about indulging in chit-chat outside the small structure that houses two forex bureaus. On the Burundian side of the border, forex bureau agents were disheartened when they learnt that this reporter was not bringing business but sought information. They refused to talk. The cause of the state of affairs, apparently, is that most of the buses and the heavy trucks usually criss-crossing the Kigali-Bujumbura route halted operations as owners cautiously keep an eye on events in Burundi, hoping the situation in the East African nation calms. Political events in the capital Bujumbura, and the entire country, took a dip when, on April 26, Burundi's ruling CNDD-FDD political party picked President Nkurunziza as its candidate for what would be his third term in office, two months...