Kenya has been pushed to open its market to more sugar from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa in exchange for an extension to 2019 for the importation of duty-free sugar from outside the 19-member bloc. During the just concluded Comesa Summit in Antananarivo, Madagascar, members successfully negotiated for Kenya to allow more sugar to be imported from the region outside the country quotas during shortages. This quota allocation criteria was backdated to August 2016 giving Comesa members who produce sugar more unfettered access into the Kenyan market. The Summit also required Kenya to expedite the privatisation of sugar factories among other measures that improve the industry’s competitiveness in order to end reliance on the Comesa safeguards. Kenya is now expected to give a scorecard on the status of its sugar industry at the end of the safeguard. Kenya has so far enjoyed the protection for 14 years. The current extension would have expired in February 2017. The Kenya delegation at the Summit made a case for the extension on the grounds of structural weaknesses that had caused persistent inability to compete on equal terms with peers in the region. “Kenya has displayed goodwill in the operation of the safeguard, for instance by allowing importation of sugar from some member states in excess of the allocated quota,” Comesa spokesman Mwangi Gakunga said. He said during the extension Nairobi was expected to provide more market access based on the deficit and quotas already set by the Council of Ministers....

Arusha — The process to establish four key institutions that will support the proposed East African Monetary Union (Eamu) has started, the East African Community (EAC) has said. The four institutions include the EAC Monetary Institute, the EAC Statistics Bureau, the EAC Financial Services Commission and the EAC Surveillance, Compliance and Enforcement Commission. Speaking here recently, the EAC secretary general, Mr Liberat Mfumukeko, said the process to lay the foundation for establishment of a monetary union were on gear. "The dream is to have east Africans trade easily using any of their currencies and eventually have an East African common currency," he said in his maiden press conference recently. He said the four institutions envisaged were needed because the establishment of a strong Monetary Union will require a robust institutional framework to ensure compliance and safeguard the convergence process. The EA Monetary Protocol was signed in Kampala, Uganda in November 2013 during the EAC Heads of State Summit after negotiations which started in January 2011. Once in place, the Monetary Union, whose protocol has ever since been ratified by the five member states of the Community, would promote and sustain a zone of sound monetary policy and prudent fiscal policies to reinforce the monetary policies. The roadmap of the Eamu provides for its establishment over ten year period, time within which, the single currency shall be realized. At the same time, the exchange rate policy shall have a convergence phase and the conversion of exchange rates formulated. Mr Mfumukeko, who...

The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) has announced its intention to extend its current power transmission lines. On Tuesday, Ketraco stated that it awarded a Chinese firm the contract to construct an interconnector power transmission line, which will empower its current lines for electricity trading beyond the East Africa regional borders. According to a company statement, the contract has been given to North China Power Engineering Company Ltd (NCPE). Ketraco said the Kenyan electricity grid will be linked to the Southern African Power Pool providing opportunities for power trade between East and Southern African Power Pool countries. “This will be accomplished through the implementation of the Kenya – Tanzania interconnector. “With a capacity to transfer 2,000MW in either direction, the interconnector will have positive impacts on the development of renewable sources of energy in Kenya and Tanzania because the interconnected system of both countries will result in a larger, more stable system,” the company statement explained. Electricity trading line According to the power transmission firm, the interconnection will also decrease power reserve capacity to be installed as it will enable the sharing of power with the Southern African Power Pool. The Southern African power pool consists of Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The Kenya – Tanzania interconnector project involves the construction of about 510km of High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) transmission line from Kenya to Tanzania, the extension of Isinya (Kenya) and Singida (Tanzania) substations as well as construction of the Arusha substation. On Kenya’s side, it involves the...

East Africa ranks as one of the world's most economically dynamic regions and offers “enormous potential” for investment by US companies, the US Chamber of Commerce said in a report issued on Tuesday. Growth rates in some of the East African Community (EAC) member states now rivals those of a few of the Asian countries that Wall Street has touted as “new emerging economies,” the report observes. Kenya's per capita GDP has already climbed past that of Bangladesh and Pakistan, notes the 35-page study titled “Building the Future: A Look at the Economic Potential of East Africa.” Trade with and within East Africa will be greatly facilitated by large-scale infrastructure projects now underway, the US Chamber says. It cites, for example, the standard gauge railway linking most of the region's landlocked states with Mombasa, and the Bagamoyo Port project in Tanzania, which “stands to be East Africa's largest port when completed.” While US trade with the region doubled between 2010 and 2015, it remains “marginal,” the report says. It notes that China and the European Union (EU) have much more robust trading relationships with East Africa. “Kenya, the United States’ leading trading partner in the region, imported 14 times as many goods from China than it did from the United States in 2014,” the Chamber points out. Similarly, it adds, the EU imported three times as many goods from Kenya than did the US in 2014. And the report warns that the European Union will likely become even more competitive...

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday officially commissioned the construction and expansion of part of the busy Mombasa Highway. The project road is located in Machakos County and runs in a south-easterly direction from Athi River to Kyumbu Centre, approximately 20kn away. The project is part of the Northern Corridor, which is the main transit route connecting the port of Mombasa to Nairobi and destinations further upcountry including the neighbouring countries of Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Eastern Congo. China Railway 21st Bureau Group Co won the Sh5.3 billion tender to expand the 20km Athi River to Machakos turn off into a dual carriageway. Work on the Athi River-Machakos Road is expected to be completed in 18 months. The project will be funded by the government and World Bank. ROAD EXPANSION The project will complement the ongoing dualling of James Githuru junction to Rironi and the upcoming expansion of JKIA to Likoni Road junction. The new carriageway will have a width of 7m and will carry two lanes. Shoulders will be 2m wide on the outer side and 1m wide on the side adjoining the existing carriageway. There will also be the construction of two large bridges over the Athi River, three grade separated interchanges (flyovers) to serve Athi River town, Daystar University and junction to Mua Hills. There will also be 8km of service roads constructed to provide low speed access to roadside properties in the built up area around Athi River town. The new carriageway will also include six...

Mombasa Port users have asked the government to speed up ongoing expansion of roads outside the facility to hasten evacuation of cargo and reduce cost of shipping. They say efforts over the years to manage the traffic from the port have not borne fruit. Car Importers Association of Kenya (CIAK) chairman Peter Otieno said Mombasa and Nairobi are linked by a two-lane highway, leading to frequent traffic snarl-ups caused by cargo trucks, especially at Mariakani and Mlolongo weigh-bridges. He says increased traffic jams due to lack of adequate infrastructure outside the port has forced the cost of shipping to continue rising and additional lanes on the highway would help ease cost of doing business. His sentiments come just a month after Transport Cabinet secretary James Macharia announced plans to partner with the private sector to build a six-lane highway from Mombasa to Nairobi were at an advanced stage. The CS said the highway and the ongoing construction of the Standard Gauge Railway will link the capital city with Mombasa to ease traffic flow and shorten the time taken for cargo to reach Nairobi from the port. Construction of the wider highway was part of the government’s initiatives of expanding the road infrastructure throughout the country to complement the upgrading of the railway line to SGR and expansion of Mombasa and Lamu ports. Source: Mediamax

By Zephania Ubwani Nairobi — Aflatoxin, a poisonous and cancer-causing chemicals produced by certain molds which grow in grains, is a barrier to food exports from Africa and threat to human health, according to a senior East African Community (EAC) official. This is mainly due to stringent regulations on Aflatoxin regulation, which limits how much produce enters the global market. "The entire African continent is susceptible to Aflatoxin contamination and that its high incidence continues to pose threat to human and animal health", the EAC deputy secretary general in charge of Economic and Social Sectors, Ms Jesca Eriyo, said in a speech availed to The Citizen. She gave the warning in her keynote address to the Second Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (Paca) Platform meeting currently underway in Entebbe, Uganda. She quoted latest report by experts, who estimate that losses from Aflatoxin in Africa have escalated to the tune of $450 million each year due to stringent standards by the European Union (EU) alone. Ms Eriyo further warned that the poisonous chemical was one of the challenges that the African continent need to address in order to achieve global developmental aspirations such as the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063. The toxic material is regularly found in improperly stored staple commodities such as cassava, chili peppers, corn, cotton seed, millet, peanuts, rice, sorghum, sunflower seeds, tree nuts, wheat, and a variety of spices. Other development goals for the continent that may be affected by the the toxic material include Sustainable...

In the good old days East African tour operators could sit back and know that eager visitors will come to sample the region’s spectacular offerings both for scenic beauty and the singular experience of seeing animals in the wild. Like clockwork, the regional industry and especially in Kenya and Tanzania, could expect good revenues in the high season and pick up some business in the low seasons by virtue of arranging special packages. Indeed the word ‘safari’ took on international prominence, because of East African tourism. To a large extent, the likes of Ernest Hemingway and such classic movies as the ‘African Queen’ also helped matters along. Today, that complacency and sense of smugness is foolhardy. The world has changed during the past half century and not always for better. International tourism is now a cut-throat industry and if East Africa wants a play an active part, it has to work for it. Economists call travel a “superior good”, meaning that as people’s incomes grow, they spend a greater proportion of it on travel. The welcome mat is not enough anymore.  You have to go abroad and aggressively flap it about to gain attention. These days you almost literally have to drag the tourists to come and it is not cheap. A television 30-second spot on a leading European, American or Japanese broadcaster can cost a couple of million dollars.  That is why when  tourism agencies ask for marketing funds, governments should not raise up their hands in despair. The...

Philip Mwakio A heavy machinery loads one of the fourteen containers loaded with primary schools laptops at the Siginon yard in Miritini soon after they arrived at the port of Mombasa on board a ship, September 23, 2016. The containers were transported by road to Nairobi where they will be distributed to public primary schools country-wide. [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD]The Port of Mombasa handled 21,458 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) at its two container terminals in the week ending October 5. In a weekly update on port operations, the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) said eight container ships called in to discharge 10,551 TEUs and load another 10,907 TEUs. A TEU is used to describe a ship’s cargo carrying capacity, with a standard 40-foot (40x8x8 feet) container equal to two TEUs (each 20x8x8 feet) A breakdown on imports showed the port received 1,849 TEUs for the local market and 3,799 TEUs for transit, with Uganda maintaining its lead position, accounting for 2,795 TEUs. Tanzania-bound cargo came in a distant second with 326 TEUs, followed by South Sudan with 238 TEUs, the Democratic Republic of Congo with 234 TEUs, and Rwanda with 110 TEUs. A total of 9,681 TEUs were delivered by road, against just 270 TEUs by rail. “The ship average working time was reported as 1.88 days, up from 1.62 days the previous week, while the dwell time was 3.46 days,” KPA said. The total container yard population reported a significant decline to 10,810 TEUs from 12,489 TEUs the previous week....

Kenya Port Authority set up a task force to arrest the 10 percent volume...                         Source: JOC.COM