President John Magufuli signalled his determination to develop the country's infrastructure earlier in the year when he raised the allocation for development projects from 26 per cent to 40 per cent of the budget. Major investments during the one year of the Magufuli presidency are the construction of the standard gauge railway, the Uganda-Tanzania oil pipeline and the revival of Air Tanzania Corporation (ATCL). Standard gauge railway In the 2016/17 budget, the Finance Minister allocated Tsh1 trillion ($455 million) for construction of a standard gauge railway (SGR) line that will link Tanzania with the landlocked neighbouring East African countries on the Central Corridor, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The 2,190km project will be implemented in four phases over the next three years, beginning with the 200km Dar es Salaam-Morogoro section, expected to start in January 2017. The government is in the process of selecting a contractor out of about 40 applicants. In addition to the funds allocated in the 2016/17 budget, in July, Tanzania signed a memorandum of understanding with China's Exim Bank, for a $7.6 billion loan to finance the project. Currently, the Tanzanian rail network comprises two main railways: The 2,600km Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) network and the 1,067km Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) of connecting Dar es Salaam with Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia. The TRC main line runs between the port of Dar es Salaam in the east through the central areas, terminating at Kigoma on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the west. Revival...

Kampala — The secretary general of the East African Community (EAC), Liberat Mfumukeko's stringent reforms which were instituted to eliminate wastage on travel expenditures, have helped the Secretariat to save more than $2.75m (Shs10 billion). The reforms instituted in the Organs and Institutions aimed at cost reduction in the EAC projects and programmes early this year are already showing positive developments. In his message last Friday to the staff of the Organs and Institutions for their dedication during the year, Mr Mfumukeko, who took over from Mr Richard Sezibera at the end of April, said: "As a result of your strong commitment, passion and dedication to the regional integration agenda, we have witnessed a lot of developments and achievements at individual and corporate levels." He said EAC has reduced its travel expenditures by 28 per cent between May and November 2016, compared to 23 per cent in the same period in 2015. The travel expenditure during May-November 2015 was $9. 9m (Shs36 billion) and the same expenditure during May-November 2016 was $7.1m (Shs26 billion) making a saving of approximately $2.75m (Shs10 billion). The Secretariat was experiencing financial strain due to delayed contributions by partner states and donors. The reforms come after Tanzanian president John Magufuli cautioned the Secretariat during the heads of State summit in March this year that "it will not be business as usual under my chairmanship". President Magufuli openly put the Secretariat on notice that the days of wanton spending were gone, questioning the rationale of holding...

Arusha — A draft EAC Sanitary and Phytosanitary Bill is being finalised and will be tabled before the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) soon. The Bill is aimed to ensure agricultural products traded conformed with the international standards through application of the required health and safety measures. "Sanitary and phytosanitary measures have become an important topic of debate in international trade as well as regional integration," said the Deputy Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC) Christophe Bazivamo during a regional consultative meeting in Nairobi last week to finalise the draft document. He acknowledged that agricultural trade continues to represent a notable portion of intra-EAC total trade flows and urged the EAC partner states to adequately enforce issues around SPS measures and standards. Following the adoption of the SPS Protocol in 2013, he explained, a strong foundation for supporting its implementation has been laid and that includes finalisation of SPS measures and setting in motion the process of developing the SPS Bill, which will facilitate effective implementation and enforcement of the protocol. Source: All Africa

The private sector in East Africa has asked Tanzania to harmonise the preferential treatments it offers to transit goods as a way of encouraging use of the central corridor. While Rwandan trucks transiting through the central corridor (Dar es Salaam Port) each pay $150 (Shs535,000); other East African member states such as Uganda are charged $500 (Shs1.7 million) per truck for goods in transit. Mr Kassim Omar, the chairman Uganda Clearing Industry and Forwarding Association, who is also East Africa Business Council (EABC) vice chair for Uganda, said: “Indeed, the Dar es Salaam Port has improved. But they need to harmonise the transit fees to make doing business in the region less costly.” Mr Omar, together with other EABC members, had paid a courtesy visit to Ambassador John Kijazi, chief secretary, office of the president of Tanzania. Value Added Tax The EABC officials further urged the Tanzanian government to remove the recently introduced 18 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on ancillary services rendered to transit goods such securing, cargo inspection, preparation of customs documentation, container handling and storage of goods to be transported. Mr Kassim said though the VAT is levied on companies based in Tanzania, the tax is finally transferred to owners of the transit goods who are later supposed to pay VAT in destination country on arrival. Achievements EABC chairman, Mr Audace Ndayizeye, commended president John Pombe Joseph Magufuli as chair of the EAC summit for the remarkable progress towards the realisation of the regional integration process....

Kenya and Tanzania are among African countries likely to face a drop in foreign aid as the new US administration cuts spending to create room for increased infrastructure expenditure, according to a new report. The report by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) says the Trump presidency raises the risk of the US rolling back development aid, thus affecting dependent countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The accountancy and finance body said that signs of an expansionary fiscal stance under the Trump administration, coupled with spending cuts to build dollar reserves for infrastructure development, are likely to lead to a decrease in aid to African countries. “Aid is probably the main channel through which a change in US policy under a new president could impact Africa,” states the fourth quarter (2016) report commissioned by ICAEW and produced by partner and forecaster Oxford Economics. “Policymakers and businesses across the continent will be keen to see President-elect Trump’s plans for development policies once he takes office,” the report adds. Donald Trump is expected to be formally inaugurated as the country’s 45th president on January 20, 2017. According to the report, and drawing on insights from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the US is sub-Saharan Africa’s major donor in bilateral official aid, with over $9 billion distributed to the region to date. It is followed by the United Kingdom, with just under $4 billion distributed, and France with just over...

The African Development Bank will become the single largest donor for Uganda’s agriculture sector, when it releases $195 million for two projects. But experts are not convinced that this funding will yield the expected results unless there is improved policy co-ordination and implementation by government agencies. The AfDB announced during a Feed Africa Strategy meeting in Kampala recently that it will partner with the government and the private sector to increase investment in agricultural productivity, value addition and value chains development, including marketing and branding of homegrown products. The Bank said $110 million will be used to support the Agriculture Value Chains Development project, which is at the appraisal stage, while the remainder will fund the Agriculture Infrastructure Development Programme – still at identification stage. Being rolled out The Feed Africa Strategy is a $24 billion, 10-year investment plan that is being rolled out across Africa to transform the agriculture sector by 2025. The money from the AfDB is $34 million shy of the $229 million that Uganda government allocated to the agriculture sector in the 2016/17 budget. The share of the budget that the Uganda government allocated to agriculture is way below the African Union’s 2003 Maputo Declaration — that called for 10 per cent allocation of the total budget to the sector — and the revised 2015 Malabo Declaration on accelerated agricultural growth and transformation. But Dr Joseph Muvawala, executive director of the National Planning Authority, said the argument about percentages is misguided, adding that focus should be...

East African Business Council (EABC) is an important platform in deepening East African Community (EAC) integration through learning and sharing best practices from other regional economic communities. This was said by Chief Secretary (CS), Ambassador John Kijazi, during the courtesy visit by members of the EABC on his office in Dar es Salaam on Monday. Ambassador Kijazi pledged to forward EABC concerns to President John Magufuli and to other levels of the government for action. Liberalisation of service sector, harmonisation of taxes, freer movement of workers and local content were among other burning issues brought to the attention of the CS in a bid to advance the EAC integration Agenda. The EABC vice-Chair, Uganda, Mr Kassim Omar, appreciated the government efforts to improve efficiency at Dar port but asked for removal of VAT on ancillary services rendered to transit goods. “Indeed, the Dar es Salaam port has improved,” he said, mentioning the ancillary services rendered to transit goods such as stevedoring, lashing and securing, cargo inspection, preparation of customs documentation, container handling and storage of transported goods to be transported. He said though VAT is levied on companies based in Tanzania, the tax is finally transferred to owner of the transit goods who are later supposed to pay VAT in destination country on arrival of goods. He urged the government to harmonise the preferential treatments it offers to transit goods services to encourage use of central corridor exemplifying, while Rwandese transit trucks pay 150 US dollars. Other EAC countries pay...

The Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF) has released an infographic that explores infrastructure resilience and access to energy in sub-Saharan East Africa (SSA). Africa has massive infrastructure needs yet invests only 4% of its GDP in infrastructure, in contrast to the 14% spent by China. A projected $100 billion will be required to meet Africa's infrastructure needs over the next decade. The share of citizens in Africa with access to services varies considerably. 63% of Africans have access to piped water and only 30% have access to sewerage. In contrast, over 90% have mobile phone service. Modern energy services are essential to human well-being and economic development; 95% of those living without electricity are in SSA and developing Asia. In Kenya, only 23% of people have access to electricity compared to the global average of 85%. If current trends continue, it will take Africa until 2080 to achieve universal access to electricity. There is significant potential for renewable energy development in Africa. Renewable energy consumption in Kenya is in excess of 78%, far surpassing the global average of just 18%. Hear more about infrastructure resilience and energy from international and regional experts, including Dr Stephen Mogere, Infrastructure Advisor at JICA, Dr Sharad Sapra, Director of Global Innovation Centre, UNICEF and Christopher M. Hoffman, Regional Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs Director at World Vision. The agenda features panel discussions on supporting resilient livelihoods and strengthening rural infrastructure in SSA as well as mobile innovations to support community resilience the region. Source:...

The private sector in East Africa has asked Tanzania to harmonise the preferential treatments it offers to transit goods as a way of encouraging use of the central corridor . While Rwandan trucks transiting through the central corridor (Dar es Salaam Port) each pay $150 (Shs535,000); other East African member states such as Uganda are charged $500 (Shs1.7 million) per truck for goods in transit. Mr Kassim Omar, the chairman Uganda Clearing Industry and Forwarding Association, who is also East Africa Business Council (EABC) vice chair for Uganda, said: “Indeed, the Dar es Salaam Port has improved. But they need to harmonise the transit fees to make doing business in the region less costly.” Mr Omar, together with other EABC members, had paid a courtesy visit to ambassador John Kijazi, chief secretary, office of the president of Tanzania on Tuesday. Value Added Tax The EABC officials further urged the Tanzanian government to remove the recently introduced 18 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on ancillary services rendered to transit goods such securing, cargo inspection, preparation of customs documentation, container handling and storage of goods to be transported. Mr Kassim said though the VAT is levied on companies based in Tanzania, the tax is finally transferred to owners of the transit goods who are later supposed to pay VAT in destination country on arrival. Achievements EABC chairman, Mr Audace Ndayizeye, commended president John Pombe Joseph Magufuli as chair of the EAC summit for the remarkable progress towards the realisation of the...

Officials in Kenya remain tight-lipped over the fate of millions of shillings collected from sale of the region’s single visa even as the second year of trial comes to a close. The National Treasury, citing stringent fiscal rules, has been holding the cash collected on behalf of Uganda and Rwanda since the three states started piloting a common tourist visa in February 2014. Both Treasury secretary Henry Rotich and PS Kamau Thugge declined to respond to our queries even as official statistics show shift to national border passes as the standoff persists. The regional visa has netted only Sh40 million in two years. Kenya is a gateway to the region. It receives hundreds of region-bound tourists by cruise ships and chartered planes is a top collection point. Under the Kenya’s Constitution, however, tourist visa collection is regarded as any other public revenue which has to be surrendered to the Consolidated Fund. The money in the Consolidated Fund can only be spent or shared out according to an appropriation Bill approved by Parliament. “Kenya has not been able to remit any of the money collected in the last two years from issuance of the regional visa because we don’t have a legal framework to do so,” said Mr Alfred Kitolo, director of productive services at Kenya’s East African Community (EAC) ministry. “We are not suggesting that any money collected on behalf of Rwanda and Uganda has been lost. Kenya will release all the cash once it gets around the legal hurdle.”...