Rwandan officials said that contractors are yet to complete works on substations and high-voltage power lines that would facilitate the power trading plan, which is part of the Northern Corridor Infrastructure Projects. The three countries had proposed to start trading in power by 2015, a deadline that was pushed to April this year. But chief executive of Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd Erias Kiyemba told The EastAfrican that the partner states will not meet the new deadline due to challenges such as delays by the contractor. “We are behind schedule…. The transmission lines are not yet complete because of delays with the contractor, both on the Ugandan and Rwandan side,” said Mr Kiyemba. “Even if we had finished ours, the Rwanda side is also facing challenges…they haven’t finished theirs, and power can’t jump!” While Kigali has completed a high voltage — 220kv — interconnection electric grid transmission line to tap power from western Uganda, the Birembo/Shango sub-stations are behind schedule. “The Kagitumba-Mirama-Shango line was completed in October last year,” a statement from Rwanda’s Ministry of East African Affairs notes. A source from the Ministry said that they plan to complete the sub-stations by October. “We experienced some delays in our Birembo /Shango sub-stations, but we are now at 80 per cent complete,” he said. Kigali has asked Isolux Ingenieria, a Spain-based engineering firm contracted to build the power lines and sub-stations to expedite the project. The EastAfrican could not independently establish why Isolux had failed to beat the deadline. However,...

Uganda will take its oil to the market through Tanzania’s Tanga port, leaving Kenya to build its own pipeline to Lamu, if the positions taken at the just-ended talks in Kampala are maintained. “We have lost the pipeline deal to Tanzania. The only deal is to go back to the drawing board to construct our own pipeline to Lamu port,” a senior Kenyan official told The EastAfrican on Friday. The outcome of the talks was closely guarded, with the technocrats meeting in Kampala insisting that the final position would be announced during the Northern Corridor Heads of State Summit next week. The EastAfrican, however, learned that Uganda may have already sealed a deal with Tanzania to take the Tanga route and to let oil firm Total E&P of France fund and operate the pipeline. Last week in Kampala, Uganda held two separate meetings with Kenya and Tanzania; each consultation came up with a report. It had been agreed that the technical teams would compile the two reports and hand over a joint report to the heads of State. READ: Battle of wits hots up as Kenya, Uganda officials resume oil pipeline talks However, the Ugandan team is said to have been reluctant to share the report of its consultations with Tanzania. “Uganda is playing hardball and has refused to share the report from its discussions with Tanzania. This then leaves us nowhere,” said one of the Kenyans close to the discussions. However, it has also emerged that the Kenyan officials...

The signing by South Sudan of the Treaty of Accession into the East African Community ushers in a new era for East Africa, one full of new opportunities but still fraught with challenges. South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his Tanzanian counterpart John Magufuli were scheduled to sign the treaty on 15 April, the latter having been mandated by the recent regional heads of state summit to sign on behalf of the EAC. Throughout the protracted negotiations that led to the admission of Sudan Sudan into the Community followed by the formal accession, there was no unanimity of opinion regarding the new member. There were essentially two diametrically opposed schools of thought. The first group – and this is perhaps the larger group – felt that South Sudan was not ready to join the regional bloc and should not be allowed to do so. Matters were not helped by the outbreak of civil war in December 2013 and the numerous lost opportunities at crafting a lasting peace in the country. Many people felt that with the current instability in that country, allowing it to join the Community would be of no benefit. There is little trade that can take place in war-time, and indeed many traders from the region fled South Sudan when civil war broke out. Efforts to rebuild infrastructure stalled, and firms that had rushed to take advantage of opportunities in the world’s youngest state hurriedly closed down. Why, then, did some people feel that the country’s application...

DAR ES SALAAM, April 16, 2016 - Tanzania President John Magufuli (R), who is also current chairman of the East African Community (EAC), and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir exchange documents shortly after signing an agreement for South Sudan to officially join the regional bloc, at the State House in Dar es Salaam, Tanzannia, on April 15, 2016. South Sudan on Friday officially joined the East African Community (EAC), becoming the sixth member of the regional bloc after Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Source: Prokerala

Speaking after a sensitisation seminar for Members of Parliament (MPs) of the Standing Order Committees on the integration process, the chairman of Tanzanian MPs in the EA Legislative Assembly (EALA), Mr Makongoro Nyerere, said that this comes after presidents of member states signed an agreement. “Following the signing, the community decided to upgrade the status of the EAC passport by making it international. Already the design has been picked where it will be uniform but each country will have its own name,” he said. Mr Nyerere explained that this is the first part of the phasing out of national passports and that the production of the newly designed passports has begun with specific quotas going to individual countries. Earlier, Mr Nyerere had given a talk on the integration process of the EAC, saying that the process had not gone as planned because politicians have not shown the required zeal, but there was a need to revive the push and massively educate the masses on the opportunities and challenges. He said that the agreed areas of cooperation among member states include trade, infrastructure, investment, industry promotion, increased quality, financial services, human resources, science and technology, agriculture and food security, environment and natural resources, tourism and wildlife, health, social welfare and development, gender equity, politics, security and the judiciary. “The community has made great strides in some of these areas of cooperation like the one stop border posts where a Tanzanian coming in from Kenya only goes through the immigration on that...

NAIROBI, Kenya, 15th April 2016 – The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) in partnership with TradeMark Africa (TMA) have today officially launched the KNCCI trade portal that will automate issuance of Certificate of Origin. A certificate of origin is an important export document that confirms the country of origin of goods in a particular export shipment. This system has also been integrated to Equity Bank, allowing for real time payments and receipt of notifications through mobile phones or online. In attendance at the launch was Joseph Kiplagat; Director Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment who represented Industrialization Permanent Secretary (PS) Julius Korir, Mr. Kiprono Kittony; the chairman of KNCCI and David Stanton; TMA Director General. Speaking at the launch, Mr. Kiprono Kittony the chairman of KNCCI said, “The portal is in response to the challenge exporters’ face in accessing manual certificate of origin including delays. It will enhance security of the exports documents, create more transparency and speed in the issuance of the ordinary Certificate of Origin and thereby actively play its facilitator role in enhancing a friendly trade environment.” TradeMark Africa Director General added, “TMA is pleased to continue supporting KNCCI to improve efficiency and save time for traders. What we expect from this investment is a simplified process that will reduce the time it takes to acquire a Certificate of Origin by half. This has a direct monetary benefit for businesses.” With the online portal, KNCCI stakeholders (members and non-members alike) will experience less delays...

With the demise of the Doha Development Round at the World Trade Organization Ministerial in Nairobi this past December, the multilateral approach to global trade negotiations has largely ended. Given that the number of regional trade agreements has increased from 70 in 1990 to more than 270 today, it appears that it is every region for itself when it comes to global trade. Tripartite Free Trade Agreement and Continental Free Trade Agreement In certain respects, Africa is well positioned in this new era regional trade relations. The Tripartite Free Trade Agreement (TFTA), signed in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt in June 2015, brings the Common Market of Eastern and South Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa development Community (SADC) into thecontinent’s largest free-trade zone covering 26 countries and stretching from Cape Town to Cairo. Already, it is estimated that the volume of intra-regional trade among these three blocks has increased from $2.3 billion in 1994 to $36 billion in 2014, a more than 12 fold increase from 7 percent to 25 percent of trade over 20 years. While low compared to the EU (70 percent) or Asia (50 percent), it is a positive trend line. The TFTA is an important boost for regional integration in Africa and is seen as a stepping stone for Africa to realize its ambition of creating a Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA). Implementation is behind schedule, however, and efforts are being made to complete the negotiations within the 36 months set out in...

NAIROBI, April 14 Kenya is seeking more private investment in state infrastructure to maintain the pace of spending on new railways and other vital assets while reducing the budget deficit, senior government officials said. East Africa's biggest economy aims to cut the deficit to 6.9 percent of gross domestic product in the fiscal year starting in July from a forecast 8.1 percent for 2015/16, in a bid to reassure investors unnerved by the large gap. Finance Minister Henry Rotich said the government had initiated several Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects to build roads, energy plants and housing. He did not give a value. "The whole intention is to get most of the projects that private investors can take up so that we can reduce pressure on our domestic resources," he told reporters. PPPs have been touted as a valuable route to fund new roads, airports, seaports, railways and power plants across Africa, a continent that struggles with creaking infrastructure. But analysts say such financing has often stumbled over government guarantees and revenue sharing arrangements. Irungu Nyakera, the principal sectary at the ministry of transport and infrastructure, told Reuters Kenya and others had to make such plans work to sustain investment. "We just have to come up with other creative ways of raising funds other than through the exchequer," he said. The transport ministry has one of the highest budgetary allocation this fiscal year, at 280 billion shillings ($2.77 billion), after decades of underinvestment. "It is a huge leap from where...

Business at the port of Mombasa has slowed down over the last two days following the ongoing heavy rains in some parts of the country. The conventional cargo section which handles mainly break-bulk cargo especially fertiliser is the most affected area. Yesterday the rain subsided enabling the discharge of fertiliser from three ships, according to the Kenya Ports Authority. However, KPA said one ship offloaded only 262 metric tonnes of fertiliser in a shift compared to 1,000 tonnes that can be handled in a normal shift. Cargo holds of the vessels had to be shut to prevent the fertiliser from getting damaged by the rains. “A slow off-take of the bagged fertiliser was also visible as a result of a lower number of trucks that turned up for business. At the main Container Terminal, operations were going on but equally on a slower pace,” KPA head of corporate affairs Bernard Osero said in a statement. The ship operations were dealt a big blow as visibility remained poor while crane operations were slowed down because of slippery condition, Osero added. Operators were reportedly making 28 to 30 movers per hour per ship crane as compared to 35 to 40 movers per ship crane per hour in a normal day. “Cargo trucks and terminal tractors movement along the quayside and around the yard was unusually slow. The rains have been on since 1 am starting with the second shift. The better part of the morning saw two shifts severely affected,” Osero said....

South Sudan will Friday officially become the sixth member of the East African Community (EAC) when it signs documents acceding to the treaties of the regional bloc. SHARE THIS STORY inShare President Salva Kiir of South Sudan and his Tanzania counterpart, John Magufuli, who doubles up as the EAC chairman, are scheduled to sign the accession treaty in Dar es Salaam, weeks after Heads of State from the bloc approved the admission of the country that is just climbing out of a phase of civil unrest. “The Summit then designated the chairperson, President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli of the United Republic of Tanzania, to sign the Treaty of Accession with the Republic of South Sudan,” the EAC secretariat said ahead of tomorrow’s ceremony. The signing will set in motion South Sudan’s assimilation into the bloc that is currently at a common market stage. In line with the treaty, the country will be required to immediately open up its borders for exchange of goods as well as labour and capital. South Sudan would also be required to adhere to principles of good governance, democracy, the rule of law, observance of human rights and social justice besides adopting social and economic policies being compatible with those of the EAC. Boon to Kenyan banks The formal entry of South Sudan into the EAC is a boon to Kenyan firms as banks, insurers, manufacturers and airlines will easily move critical staff to run their operations in areas where locals lack expertise. READ: Business lose...