A whooping $16 million (about Rwf11bn) fund has been set aside for innovators who can come up with effective strategies to cut costs on transport and logistics in East Africa. The competition, dubbed Logistics Innovation for Trade (LIFT), will provide grants ranging from $200,000 (about Rwf137m) to $750, 000 (about Rwf514m) to winning proposals from innovators from across the world but whose ideas will be implemented in East Africa. The challenge was launched yesterday in Nairobi, Kenya. Managed by Trade Mark East Africa, the challenge seeks to trigger and introduce innovative approaches to tackling freight and transport costs in East Africa which reportedly has the highest freight and transport costs in the world. Applicants are expected to devise strategies of reducing the time taken along the major East African transport corridors. The two major corridors are; the Northern Corridor, which links EAC countries to Mombasa Port, and the Central Corridor which connects to Dar-es- Salaam. TradeMark Africa’s Senior Director of Business Competitiveness Lisa Karanja said their desire was to see East Africa adopt world class logistical technologies to ably compete with the rest of the world. “It is a challenge to the private sector to develop and test new ideas that could reduce the cost and time of transport and logistics. TradeMark will co-invest with the private sector in projects that have the potential to achieve this but may be too risky to undertake without external support,” Karanja said. The organisation’s Challenge Fund manager, Isaac Njoroge, said the fund will...

As the East African community heads of state meet in Nairobi this week, Rwandans have no reason to wonder about the benefits of the body. Among the many benefits Rwanda has achieved from EAC integration is the Single Tourist Visa use and the Single Customs Territory (SCT),” Permanent Secretary, Ministry of East African Community Affair, Safari Innocent said while addressing the media. The SCT allows Rwandans to cross over to Kenya and Uganda using identity cards which is supporting trade between the countries, and the Single Tourist Visa allows tourists to move within the three countries with payment of 100$ which is supporting the tourism sector not only of the country but also of the region. According to the ministry of East African Affairs: “About 831,236 and more persons have used ID cards to travel to Uganda and Kenya since the use of IDs as travel documents prevailed and this means that movement of Rwandans across the borders was made easy which is boosting trade,” The SCT has reduced days spent during transportation of goods from Mombasa port to Kigali, from 21 days to 5 days which has reduced operation costs. The cost of hiring a truck to transport cargo from Mombasa to Kigali has reduced by about $1000 from $5200 in 2010 to $4200 in 2014. Rwanda has since January 2014- September issued over 1,529 tourist visas which shows a very big achievement for the country under the tourism sector. Since the establishment of the EAC Common Market Protocol...

Rwanda and Tanzania are expected to resolve dispute over park levies in the forthcoming East African Community Regional Forum on elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers slated for next month. Transporters in Rwanda say the levies by the Tanzanian authorities violate the Customs Union and Common Market Protocol. The contested levies include $300 Rwandan trucks are charged for crossing Saadani National Park when they go to load salt at Sea Salt Factory in Saadani and $6 as gate pass fee. Tanzanian transporters on the other hand are required to pay only $40 while entering the park, Bagamoyo, Pangani and Zanzibar triangle. Rwandan transporters complain that the disparity eats into the small margins they earn. The subsidies and protectionism the Tanzanian transporters enjoy have made them dominant in the transportation business in Rwanda. The dominance of Tanzanian transporters is reflected in a recent study by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The report, released in September this year indicates that Rwanda spends $355 million on foreign transport and logistics services annually but much of this money benefits foreign registered transport firms. “The East African Community Ministry made investigations and discovered that $300 is charged on Rwandan trucks crossing Saadani National Park to load salt at Sea Salt Factory located in Saadani and $6 as gate pass fee,” Valentine Rugwabiza, EAC minister told a meeting of traders at Hotel Mille Collines recently. “We already have evidence and we are going to raise it with the government of Tanzania in the forthcoming 16th regional forum...

The Tanzanian government is eking $1.6 billion to upgrade four of its ports in a bid to improve efficiency and open up the country for cross-border business. Harrison Mwakyembe, Minister for Transport, said the move was necessitated by transit demand. The ambitious plan falls under the Big Results Now (BRN) initiative modelled on the Malaysian development strategy. For the transport sector, BRN is expected to unlock the potential of the Central Corridor (port and rail) to increase transit capacity. “We currently transport 5 million tonnes of cargo, but we expect to increase it to 22 million tonnes by 2017,” he said. The Dar es Salaam Port handled 33.4 per cent of the country’s imports and exports in 2013. The port is currently operating 24 hours with a throughput exceeding the first-year BRN target. “The Dar es Salaam port has increased its throughput from 7.4 million tonnes in 2007 to 13.7 million tonnes in 2013,” said the minister. He said that through the BRN projects, the country is looking for at least four investors to inject Tsh2.7 trillion ($1.6 billion) for modernisation of the ports. The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Transport Shaaban Mwinjaka said the first investor is expected to bring in Tsh840.5 billion ($500 million) for the upgrading of Berths 1-7 at the Dar es Salaam port, among other developments. The government is also seeking Tsh201.7 billion ($120 million) for the expansion and modernisation of the Kigoma port. Mr Mwinjaka said there is a need to increase the...

Dodoma — THE Ministry of Finance has directed the Commissioner General of Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) to work on all challenges facing the new custom clearance system introduced at the Dar es Salaam Port, the Parliament was told. This was said by the Deputy Minister for Finance, Mr Adam Malima, when responding to a supplementary question by Murtaza Mangungu, Kilwa North Legislator (CCM). The Member of Parliament said there have been various concerns from business people regarding the efficiency of the new system which is known as Tanzania Custom Integrated System (TANCIS). He noted that some business people had raised concern that when they approach the authority in following up their business engagements, TRA officials say that the system is down or not working properly hence led to unnecessary costs and is cumbersome to businessmen, why don't you work on it, he said. Responding, Deputy Minister Malima, said: The Commissioner General of TRA in collaboration with port authorities will work on the challenges to improve efficiency. He said the Tanzania Custom Integrated System has replaced the old system dubbed ASYCUDA++. "The major advantage of TANCIS is the ability to speed up clearance of goods. It also facilitates tracking movements of the goods from the point of shipment to landing. By doing this, operational costs incurred by agents will also be reduced. He mentioned some of the benefits of the new system as improvement of controls through inbuilt automated checks, efficient use of both financial and human resources, reduction of costs...

Inconsistency in the East African region has resulted in talks around regulation in the trade and service industry. Earlier this week, Valentine Rugwabiza, minister of East African Community, discussed trade and policies in the region. One of the issues was access to customs systems between Rwanda and Kenya. Rwandan agents did not have access to Kenyan customs systems. While Kenyan agents had access to Rwandan customs systems. “The decision has made is that only 86 Rwanda agents have been nominated to clear cargo destined to Kenya and other transit cargo. The Rwanda regulatory authority will send their names to the Kenya Revenue Authority to have their bounds activated,” she said. There was also the consideration of Rwanda opening up a revolving account with shipping line authorities for easier business at sea ports. Rugwabiza also tackled the complaint that Rwandan truck drivers were being charged a road toll of 300 dollars, per truck, when crossing the Tanzania National Park. While Tanzanian trucks were only charged 40 dollars top cross the same road. “At the EAC level, on no tariff measures, we will raise this issue with the aim of having it either brought at 40 dollars as what is imposed to Tanzania and just the same treatment for east African businesses or remove it all together. But what we are aiming for here is just to have a level playing field,” added Rugwabiza. Source: CNBCAFRICA.COM

It remains to be seen, however, who will win the race to develop effective new rail linkage into their respective hinterlands including to the landlocked countries that lie beyond their borders. In East Africa freight volumes moved by rail have been in decline since the 1970s and 1980s, reducing from a level of around 60% of port throughput to single digit figures currently for both the ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, the major ports of Kenya and Tanzania respectively. New efforts are, however, now being made to upgrade rail systems in conjunction with the Northern Corridor that runs from Mombasa and the Central Corridor from Dar es Salaam. The Northern Corridor connects the port of Mombasa via Nairobi to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Central Corridor connects the port of Dar es Salaam with Uganda, Burundi, DRC, Rwanda and South Sudan. Funding has been agreed in the case of both Kenya and Tanzania for real progress to be made in shifting large volumes of freight back on to rail. China is funding the first 450-kilometre (280 mile) section of the new standard gauge rail system running from Mombasa to Nairobi, with the cost of this put at $5.2bn. Completion is scheduled for 2017 with an onward link to Uganda, providing connections to Rwanda and South Sudan, estimated to raise the total financing requirement to around $13.8bn. Financing for this second stage development is yet to be concluded. This...

Kigali: The Ministry of East African Community (MINEAC) started a weeklong campaign and activities to fast track the integration process. According to a statement from the government, the activities focus on key achievements in the seven years since Rwanda joined the EAC, available opportunities, on-going projects and addressing questions and concerns of stakeholders on EAC(East African Community) Integration. The activities will also highlight future strategic priorities as well as awareness campaign on how Rwandans can benefit from the community, all under the theme “EAC Regional Integration: Benefit & Opportunities to update Rwandan citizens on 7 years of Rwanda in EAC”. Speaking to media about the East African Business Summit held in Kigali in October 2014, President Paul Kagame said that Rwanda has greatly benefited from the EAC. “Benefits from EAC Integration have multiplied in the seven years since Rwanda joined the EAC. Rwanda has benefited from EAC’s large market, challenges have been shared and addressed together, benefits have come from many sources and Rwanda has been much better in the last seven years”, he said. The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of East African Community, Innocent Safari, highlighted numerous benefits Rwanda enjoyed, saying that, “About $100 million has been invested in the country by investors from other partner states in the seven years since Rwanda joined the EAC. The use of Identity Cards for travel has eased free movements of people, goods and services between Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.” Other successful projects that the East African Community embarked on include...

Rwanda's clearing and forwarding agents have been advised to open up revolving accounts with shipping line authorities to facilitate the ease of doing business at East Africa's sea ports. This will serve as guarantee fund for clearing agents to secure containers without necessarily having to pay container deposit fees in cash, according to Valentine Rugwabiza, Rwanda's minister in charge of East African Community (EAC) affairs. This is one of the new measures government hopes will ease the difficulties faced by local clearing and forwarding agents at East Africa's sea points of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Mombasa in Kenya. The advice follows complaints from local agents about high container deposit charges by shippers at the two sea ports. Rwandan clearing agents are required to deposit up to US $5000 (about Rwf3.5 million) in container deposits which, according to the businesscommunity, is eating into their profits. However, Rugwabiza, called on the agents to establish a revolving account with the shipping lines saying this would help reduce on the costs they are currently incurring and promote transparency. "The feedback we got from this challenge is that clearing agents had not yet established good relationship with the shipping lines to entrust them with their containers. However, the best solution is to open up a revolving account as their Kenyan counterparts have done," Rugwabiza noted. She was addressing members of the business community during a business breakfast meeting in Kigali, yesterday. "It was clear to us that we needed to put in place...

TANZANIA'S share of intra-regional trade in East African Community region has increased from 15 per cent in 2005 to 26 per cent by last year grossing over 1.5 billion US dollars, the government has said. The Permanent Secretary at Ministry of East African Cooperation, Joyce Mapunjo, told reporters in Dar es Salaam that the country's trade volume was only second to Kenya in the EAC region. Ms Mapunjo who was speaking to journalist on the forthcoming 16th EAC Summit due to be held in Kenyan capital, Nairobi later this month, pointed out that the country's exports include manufactured goods. "We are exporting steel bars, cooking oil, cement and textiles," she pointed out while stressing that EAC intraregional trade has increased from 317 million US dollars in 2005 to over 1.5 billion US dollars last year. "And the figure is increasing annually so I urge our businessmen to seize the opportunity and exploit the regional market," she argued. The EA Cooperation chief civil servant further noted that the government is doing everything to ensure that the local private sector is competitive. "We have addressed concerns over road blocks and now most of them are gone and by next year we will have only three weighbridges between Dar es Salaam and Nyakanazi border post," she noted. The Ministry's acting Director for Trade, Investment and Production, Bernard Haule said where necessary weigh-inmotion bridges will be deployed to check against notorious cargo truck owners who do not comply to load limitations on the roads....