Kenya and South Africa are in talks to co-own a cruise ship.The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mombasa chairman James Mureu said it is possible to have the resources needed in three years, and buy the ship. He said the Capital Markets Authority will help tourism players to raise the required funds. It is not clear how much each country will contribute for the project. Mureu spoke on Monday at Milly Glass Ltd where South Africa envoy to Kenya Koleka Anita had paid a courtesy call. “South Africa has a well developed cruise business and tourism… we will make sure we are able to own a ship that can bring visitors from the East Coast down to Cape Town. This is not a far-fetched dream,” he said. Anita said South Africa aims to enhance its business ties with Kenya on matters tourism. Cruise tourism is gaining traction in Kenya since last year, when more than five cruise ships docked at the Port of Mombasa.  Kenya is building its first ever cruise ship terminal at the port at a cost of Sh350 million. The Kenya Ports Authority has contributed Sh250 million, while the balance will be funded by Trade Mark East Africa. The project involves the modernisation of an old building into a world-class cruise terminal at the port’s berth number one. Anita said a MoU to be signed between the port of Mombasa and Durban will strengthen cooperation. “How do we build a social cohesion among two nation...

Businesses depending on Lake Victoria are counting heavy losses thanks to resurgence of the water hyacinth. Among  those affected are transport, fishing and tourism operators. Fishing vessels marooned by the choking weed are now a common sight at the lake. Businesses on the shores of the lake in Kisumu, Homa Bay, Siaya, Migori and Busia counties are almost grinding to a halt. The weed, which has literally been on the rampage in the past three months, has also been blamed for numerous accidents. Facilities whose operations have been crippled include the Kisumu port, and fish landing sites. Access to tourist attraction areas and islands inside the lake has also been greatly hampered. Kisumu Port manager Mwalimu Disi said movement of boats and fishing vessels has been constrained by the hyacinth carpet. The port usually receives and processes over 4,000 tonnes of goods transported to other East Africa countries including Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda daily but this could be halved due to navigation challenges. “The port currently receives a maximum of one ship weekly, down from four vessels it could accommodate in a day. The decline in the number of ships docking at the port means business is at its lowest,” said Mr Disi. The ships mostly transport fertilisers, cooking oil, soap and sugar to neighbouring countries. Heavy fuel consumption Vessels are also recording heavy consumption of fuel trying to navigate through the thick swaths of the weed, a situation Mr Disi said discourages businesses. “We have seen vessels coming here...

Kenya’s bid to build a shared customs with its neighbours in East Africa remains in limbo as Tanzania continues to show reluctance to sign a crucial pact with the European Union as deadline nears, a new report says. The report by financial advisory firm Citi says Kenya’s quest to rally the bloc to ratify the economic partnership agreement (EPA) will likely hit a brick wall as Dar es Salaam sticks to its guns in shunning the pact. “Tanzania’s relationship with the EAC (East African Community) often seems to have parallels with that of the UK to the EU: a somewhat reluctant member who is far from fully committed to greater integration which creates periodic tensions,” says the report. “However, given the potential economic impact of this deal, notably to Kenya, it seems that this is more than a periodic tension, but a much more fundamental difference between members.” Kenya and Rwanda signed the trade deal in September. Failure to sign the deal as a bloc will result in a wave of taxes on produce entering the EU market from Kenya, the EAC’s only developing state. The tariff will make cut flowers, tea, fresh vegetables and coffee costlier, making the exports uncompetitive in the EU market and putting at risk four million jobs. The report says the EU could extend the deadline, after granting the EAC members a four-month window from last September to ink the agreement. “But if the deadline is extended, it would seem a pointless exercise unless there...

Kenya can breathe a sigh of relief after the US dropped plans to endorse a trans-pacific trade pact that would have exposed the country’s exports to America to stiff competition. The Ministry of Trade has welcomed the move by President Donald Trump saying the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), would have hit hard the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa) through which Kenya sells to America duty-free. Last year, Kenya joined other African nations to lobby for the delay in the implementation of TPP, which would have resulted in stiff rivalry to the country’s textile industry as it would allow 12 pacific nations to export their goods to America duty free. Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo says the withdrawal of this trade deal by Trump is good news for Kenya, especially for the country’s textile sector. Kenya is a beneficiary of the preferential trade pact Agoa, which allows sub-Saharan African countries to export goods to the US tax-free. Textiles and apparel account for about 80 per cent of Kenya’s total exports under the agreement. “If the Trump administration would have moved on with implementation of TPP, then goods from Kenya heading to US under the Agoa treaty would have been affected significantly as a result of competition from other nations. Its withdrawal gives us a sigh of relief,” Dr Kiptoo said. Big players  Dr Kiptoo said it would be difficult for Kenya to compete with countries such as Vietnam and other Asian States, which are not only part of the TPP deal...

The Kenya Revenue Authority is banking on new-modern scanners at the port of Mombasa and a heightened collaboration with other global entities to curtail illicit trade through the port of Mombasa. This is in a renewed effort to curb tax cheats and increase its import duty collections, which have been hampered by mis-declaration and concealment of cargo on imported containarised goods. The authority is installing three state-of-the-art movable scanners at the port of Mombasa which will help in its anti-graft war, KRA commissioner general John Njiraini said in an interview, adding that an integrated scanner management solution is also being developed. “The technology is being put in place so we can see everything that is happening in Mombasa, we can see what is happening at the Inland Container Depot (Nairobi), see what is happening at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and even eventually at the border posts from one control room,” Njiraini said. The tax man said he is also exploring more intelligence sharing collaboration with the UK’s Revenue and Customs Administration, China customs and US customs and border control to stop importation of contrabands. Last year, the authority intercepted 10 high-end vehicles between March and October at the port of Mombasa, which had been concealed in containers, declared as personal effects and household goods. The vehicles which had a total estimated value of Sh58 million were on transit from the United Kingdom to Uganda. This prompted a multi-agency investigation where Kenyan authorities increased corporation with Interpol, the Directorate of Criminal...

IN SUMMARY The new growth plan is more liberal and seeks to open up key areas of the economy as the country shifts to boost its infrastructure projects by completing the $7.3 billion new Central Railway Line to standard gauge and the $2.89 billion Mtwara Liquefied Natural Gas Plant. The taxpayers will also have to fork out more to afford the funding of these grand projects with the country’s Treasury projecting the annual tax revenue collection rising from 13.8 per cent of GDP last year to 17.1 per cent in the 2020/21 financial year. The grand plan also seeks to increase manufacturing exports from 24 per cent to 30 per cent by 2020. Tanzania is looking to raise $45.89 billion to finance its second industrialisation plan, which will see it increase its development spending to $27.66 billion. This is part of its plans to become a middle-income nation by 2025. Dar hopes to raise $45.89 billion from taxes, as the government seeks to reduce its reliance on donor funding, which has been declining over the years. “In order to meet the financial requirements of this plan, traditional sources of financing need to be revamped. Securing additional resources is a priority for both the government and the private sector, particularly for implementing the identified core resource-intensive infrastructure, productive and social services,” Tanzania’s Treasury says of the its second five-year development and transformation plan. Tanzania has singled out the revival of the national carrier Air Tanzania, completion and operationalisation of Mlonganzila and...

The first batch of the Standard Gauge Ralway (SGR) passenger trains arrived at Mombasa port from China aboard a cargo carrier, Mv Chipol Taihu, on Saturday. Two passenger engines and 32 coaches are part of the 56 locomotives being shipped into the country prior to the completion of the SGR in June 2017. The 32 coaches incorporate 23 hard seat units, five soft seat units, two luggage car units, one generator car unit and one track inspection car. The locomotives and rolling stock have been manufactured by CRRC Qishuyan Corporation Limited of China. Four freight locomotives were also offloaded bringing the number of SGR locomotives already in the country to eight freight locomotives, two passenger locomotives and two shunting locomotives. LATEST CARGO On hand to receive the latest cargo consignment were senior Kenya Railways officials led by Managing Director Atanas Maina. “The early delivery of these locomotives will give us more time to test the engines as well as the laid rail track as we prepare for commissioning in June. We are well ahead of the plans to deliver SGR project to Kenyans,” Maina said. The MD added that in line with railway safety regulations, all the new set of trains will be tested to ensure safety compliance. Maina noted that testing of the SGR locomotives would commence in the next few days, with tests on the line commencing in March. “Plans for quality assurance acceptance tests are under way,” the MD said. He said that once the tests are...

Kenya complied with the request by the East African Community’s secretariat to the five-member states to provide data on international trade and tax, the state statistician has said. The information will partly help establish the impact the Economic Partnership Agreement will have on the EAC bloc, a win for Tanzania which has been pushing for this before it ratifies the long-standing deal. In a January 13 letter to the region’s ministries responsible for EAC Affairs, the secretariat asked the five countries to provide data with description of products they are trading in, value of the imports, source of the products (exporting country) and the tax rates. “(The EAC)...requests you to liaise with your respective revenue authorities, bureau of statistics to urgently provide the EAC secretariat with the trade input data for 2006-2015 by January 18, 2017,” the letter, signed by deputy secretary general for finance and administration Jesca Eriyo, read in part. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said it submitted the data as per the request of the secretariat despite the short notice. “Kenya has done its part. We did that because the data is available. The secretariat is now going to analyse the data. Our work was to give the data which we have done,” KNBS director general Zachary Mwangi said. It is not clear whether Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have submitted their data to help conclude a report on the dragging EAC-EU duty and quota-free deal, which is likely to further delay. The trade deal stalled...

The International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Christine Lagarde advised the East African countries in pursuit of integration to go slow on the project. The countries within East Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi have been integrating over the years with projection to have a political federation in about 20 years. The caution from the IMF chief is coming from the lessons that Europe has had to have especially after the United Kingdom held a referendum and the people chose to exit the European Union, New Vision reported. “Coming from the European Union and a country that is part of the eurozone, I would certainly stress that, hasting slowly is probably the best way to go and consolidate one step at a time and make sure that the steps you have taken are actually solid, sustainable and will take you the next level. Don’t rush to integration—infrastructure integration, market integration, custom integration. Those are the steps that have been taken and are being taken,” Lagarde said while addressing a joint press conference with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at State House Entebbe on Friday. She did point out that integration had its advantages and was perhaps one of the best options for the country to pursue its growth agenda. Uganda’s largest trade market for exports is East Africa but more significantly South Sudan. South Sudan was in March 2016 given the green-light to join the East African Community. Uganda also trades with the EAC and also enjoys lower tariffs on exports...

As Israeli companies increasingly eye Kenya as an attractive environment for commerce, a businessman turned honorary diplomat aims to quintuple trade volume between the countries in just three years. Shlomo Grofman, who was recently appointed honorary consul of Kenya in Israel, intends to intensify Israeli-Kenyan business partnerships, aiming for annual volume between the countries to jump from $100 million today to $500m. in three years. In addition, he hopes to launch a direct flight route between the two countries as part of the effort to expand partnerships among companies in both places. “Opening a direct flight will result in three years in an increase in the trade volume between Israel and Kenya that is five times today’s trade volume, which currently stands at $100m. per year, and will enable dozens of Israeli companies in the fields of safety, health, hi-tech and agriculture that are very interested in doing so to operate in Kenya,” Grofman said. Over the weekend, Grofman received the title “honorary consul of Kenya in Jerusalem,” at a diplomatic ceremony held in the Foreign Ministry, attended by a variety of ministry officials and Israeli diplomats, as well as representatives from the Kenyan Embassy. Grofman has served in a number of pioneering roles in the real estate industry in Israel, including as CEO of Africa Israel Investments Ltd. for 17 years – until the company’s acquisition by Lev Leviev in 1996. Today, Grofman is co-owner and co-chairman of the Faire Fund (First American Israeli Real Estate Fund), as well...