The Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) will on April 27 test the rehabilitated Port Bell to Kampala Railway Station line with a cargo train as part of ongoing plans to open new transport corridors. The URC senior marine officer Charles Ruzigye has said that the government has already invested about Shs 1 billion in rehabilitating the line from Port Bell to Kampala that has been inactive since the year 2007. “We have replaced the rails and sleepers and we plan to have a trial run for a cargo train from Port Bell in Luzira to Kampala on April 27th this year,” Ruzigye told journalists this week. The project which is part of the Central Corridor intends to improve movement of cargo to and from the port of Dar es Salaam through Mwanza port in Tanzania. Ruzigye said the trial “is aimed at checking the strength of the line that will connect Port Bell to Mwanza, thus transporting cargo from Kampala to Mwanza and ultimately to the Dar es Salaam port”. He said at a media briefing organised by the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (CCTFA) media coordination office in Kampala that since 2007, Uganda has had no transport activity on Lake Victoria. Lake transport took a hit after the 2005 accident in which the MV Kabalega sunk. In the early hours of May 8, 2005, two marine vessels, MV Kaawa and MV Kabalega collided on Lake Victoria while transporting goods to and from Tanzania. MV Kabalega capsized two hours after...

Tanzania’s Prime Minister Majaliwa Kassim Majaliwa on Monday assured the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), Martin Ngoga, of his government’s support to the Assembly’s work in advancing the six-member bloc’s integration agenda. He made the assurance during Ngoga’s courtesy call on the prime minister at the Tanzanian parliamentary building in the capital, Dodoma. During their meeting, Majaliwa told Ngoga that Tanzanians and the citizens of all the other partner states have high expectations in the regional parliament. Ngoga, on the other hand, briefed the Tanzanian premier about key and recent developments in the assembly, particularly the effort to fast-track the third pillar of the integration agenda – the East African Community Monetary Union (EAMU). “The third pillar of integration has delayed for two years now but our intention as parliament is to fast-track this effort,” he said. On Thursday last week, the East African Community Monetary Institute Bill, 2017 was finally tabled before the regional parliament in Dodoma. The long-awaited piece of legislation seeks to establish the East African Community Monetary Institute, a body which will be responsible for the preparatory work for the Monetary Union. The proposed monetary body was supposed to be set up by 2015, according to an schedule. Regional leaders issued a directive during the February 23 EAC Heads of State Summit in Kampala, Uganda for the Council of Ministers to expedite the establishment of the institute and other legal instruments to pave way for the Monetary Union. Source: The New Times

The East African Community produces only less than 30 per cent of the medicines it needs while it imports the rest, a situation that must be reversed to ensure citizens easily access affordable drugs, officials have said. This revelation was made last week during the launch of a 10-year strategic plan for pharmaceutical manufacturing at the EAC seat in Arusha, Tanzania. The launch was held on the margins of the first regional vaccine production symposium. “Vaccines are among a category of medicines that the region wholly depends on imports as currently there is no local production capacity. There is a vacuum and nature hates vacuum,” said Kirunda Kivejinja, the chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers. Kivejinja is also Uganda’s second deputy prime minister and minister for East African Community affairs. “We are determined to reverse these negative trends and strengthen local production capacity,” he said, noting that the 2017-2027 roadmap seeks to address this issue. According to Christophe Bazivamo, the deputy EAC secretary-general for productive sectors, the action plan will guide the bloc towards evolving into an efficient and effective pharmaceutical industry. The bloc views the local production of essential medicines as contributing to attaining sustainable development goal (SDG) 3.8 – achievement of universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health care services, and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all – in a more sustainable manner than through delivery of donated drugs to developing countries. “I am happy...

A fresh round of trade wars is simmering in East Africa after Tanzania and Uganda imposed taxes on Kenya made confectionery products like chocolate, ice cream, biscuits and sweets citing use of imported industrial sugar in the goods. The two states have rejected certificates of origin issued by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and opted to levy 25 per cent import duty on Kenyan confectioneries. Acceptance of the certificate-- a document showing where a good has originated so as to determine the import duty chargeable — guarantees Kenyan goods tax-free entry into Uganda and Tanzania. East Africa Community common market made up of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi allows free movement of locally manufactured goods within the bloc. Tanzania and Uganda revenue authorities have however accused the Kenyan manufacturers of tilting competition in their favour by using industrial sugar imported under a 10 per cent duty remission scheme. The region does not produce industrial sugar. Last week, Kenyan firms accused Uganda and Tanzania of using the customs taxes to restrict trade in East Africa. “This is an EAC-wide remission scheme that is available to all manufacturers in the region,” said Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) chief executive Phyllis Wakiaga. “We are not supposed to pay duty when we sell in the region because our competitors in the region also rely on industrial sugar imported under the same remission scheme.” KRA has come to the defence of Kenyan firms saying confectionery products made of industrial sugar imported under the EAC...

NAIROBI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- East African countries said Thursday they have started developing a harmonized forest policy and strategy to increase forest cover and contain drought. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) countries who met in Nairobi said the initiative is aimed at improved contributions of forests resources to national economies for poverty reduction, environmental sustainability and development of the IGAD member states. "The initiative will contribute to the increment of forest cover to help contain drought that has been a major problem in the Horn of Africa," said Debalkew Berhe, IGAD's Program Manager for Environmental Protection during a forum in Nairobi. Berhe noted that the regional bloc was mandated with the responsibility of managing drought and desertification but over a period of time changed to sustainable development but drought continued to worsen productivity in the region. "Our solution is to develop a harmonized forest policy and strategy to help increase forest cover to improve rainfall pattern, increase food security, address water problem and help address climate change," he added. Berhe said that once the forest policy and strategy becomes effective, it will help address issues on socio-economic benefits of the forestry. According to Gabriel Rugalema, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Representative in Kenya, with the rising population in the region, there is need for forest policy and strategy to help reduce pressure on natural resources. Rugalema said that given the livelihood opportunities provided by forests and woodlands, it is not surprising that over the past few...

Dodoma — The government is seeking to take a certain degree of control over the design, finance and operations of the prospective Bagamoyo port project, Parliament was told yesterday. This came to light as talks between the government and the investors drag on. Estimated to cost $10 billion (about Sh22.3 trillion), construction of the Bagamoyo port and a special economic zone (SEZ) was slated to take off in January, this year, according to details obtained from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in December 2017. However, it was revealed in Parliament yesterday that the process would not begin until the government strikes a deal with the investors through a public-private partnership agreement. This would assure the government of the project's risk management, security details, financial gains - and nature of the contract. Works, Transport and Communications deputy minister Elias Kwandikwa said construction of the port would begin soon after the ongoing talks are completed, and a contract is signed between the government and the investors. Later, speaking in an exclusive interview with The Citizen outside the august House, Mr Kwandikwa revealed that the government "prefers a contract that would assure the county of revenue and jobs for its people". According to him, ports are projects that could potentially endanger a country's security. "We need to have control of the entrance gate so that we can assure ourselves that it doesn't turn into a transit point for illicit goods into the country," he said. Earlier, Dr Shukuru Kawambwa (Bagamoyo-CCM) had...

President Paul Kagame has said that even with the recent signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), African leaders must work to improve the business environment for citizens to fully benefit from the trade deal. Kagame was yesterday speaking in the United Kingdom at the Commonwealth Business Forum organised on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Yesterday’s business forum convened government and business leaders to deliberate on whether Africa’s growth story is still alive and well, with a special focus on intra-African trade and attracting investment into Africa. In a panel session that also featured South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, Kagame said that leaders have to continuously improve their business environment to reap the full benefits of opening up the continent. “African Continental Free Trade Area was adopted last month by African leaders. Trade and investment are set to grow across the continent, creating opportunities for manufacturing and value addition. “We as leaders still have to make sure that the business environment keeps improving, so that citizens can fully benefit from trade and free movement,” he said. The agreement could go into force by the end of this year following the signing of the deal by 44 AU member states in March at an extraordinary African Union Summit held in Kigali. More countries are set to sign the agreement during the next African Union Summit slated for July in Mauritania. Kagame said that what has been done so far was a...

Economic growth in Africa rebounded, but “not fast enough” in recent past, according to Africa’s Pulse, a bi-annual analysis of the state of African economies conducted by the World Bank, released on Wednesday in Washington. The report, which was released during the World Bank Spring Meetings, however shows that, “Growth prospects have strengthened in most of East Africa, owing to improving agriculture sector growth following droughts and a rebound in private sector credit growth. In Ethiopia, growth will remain high, as government-led infrastructure investment continues.” The report suggests that Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth is projected to reach 3.1 per cent in 2018, and to average 3.6 percent in the 2019–20 period. The growth forecasts are based on expectations that oil and metal prices will remain stable, and that governments in the region will implement reforms to address macroeconomic imbalances and boost investment. “Growth has rebounded in Sub-Saharan Africa, but not fast enough. We are still far from pre-crisis growth levels,” said Albert G. Zeufack, World Bank Chief Economist for the Africa Region. To achieve high and sustained levels of growth, Zeufack says, African governments must speed up and deepen macroeconomic and structural reforms. The moderate pace of economic expansion reflects the gradual pick-up in growth in the region’s three largest economies, Nigeria, Angola and South Africa. Elsewhere, economic activity will pick up in some metals exporters, as mining production and investment rise. Among non-resource intensive countries, solid growth, supported by infrastructure investment, will continue in the West African Economic and Monetary...

Construction of the Northern Corridor transit transport route has been boosted with US$1.05m from Trademark East Africa. The funding will enable the agency to collect and analyze data related to transport of goods and persons. This follows the signing of a finance agreement between Trademark East Africa (TMA) and the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA) on Tuesday. The money will be channeled from TMA through NCTTCA. The agreement was signed by NCTTCA acting executive Secretary, Fred Tumwebaze and Ahmed Farah from TMA. The Northern Corridor is East Africa’s main transport corridor that begins at the port of Mombasa with two routes; one through Uganda to South Sudan and the second one through Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi to DRC. NCTTCA member countries include Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Democratic republic of Congo, adds a press statement from TMA. NCTTCA oversees the corridor monitoring framework known as Northern Corridor Transport Observatory, which is a performance monitoring tool that informs interventions geared towards reducing costs and delays of transportation and other related logistics challenges. With the new financing, the Authority will improve monitoring of the Northern Corridor performance with regards to movement of people and goods. The statement adds that the authority will adopt modern technologies, including mobile based and online systems to enhance its capability to monitor trade and transport flows, bottlenecks and impact of interventions. Information from TMA indicates that data collected will support evidence-based advocacy and decision-making, resulting to fit for purpose interventions in reducing...

A report on African ports released last week by global research firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) shows that Dar es Salaam and Djibouti may overtake Mombasa port as the regional hub. The report identified Durban (South Africa), Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) and Mombasa as the most likely to emerge as the major hubs in Southern Africa, West Africa and East Africa, respectively based on the degree of port centrality, the amount of trade passing through a port, and the size of the hinterland. It also established that the closest rivals for these ports, due to their better operational performance, are Lagos-Apapa (Nigeria) and Tema (Ghana) as alternatives to Abidjan, and Djibouti and to a lesser extent Dar es Salaam to Mombasa. “Djibouti poses much less of a threat to Mombasa due to the latter’s larger hinterland and operational efficiencies. If it was not for the close proximity of Dar es Salaam to Mombasa, it would have been a major contender to be an East African hub. Given their close proximity, it is unlikely that both Dar es Salaam and Mombasa will both emerge as hubs,” reported PwC. “Also due to Mombasa’s better hinterland connections and larger throughput, it is more likely to fulfil the role of a hub, with Dar es Salaam being a significant regional port.” Both Tanzania and Djibouti have recently embarked on major developments on their ports in a bid to improve their operational performances and position themselves as continental hubs. In July 2017, Tanzania announced that it had received...