TANZANIA has outshined her East African Community (EAC) partner states in launching and executing electronic cargo systems around the region, Deputy Minister for East African Cooperation, Abdullah Juma-Saadala, has revealed here.

Speaking during the ongoing East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) sessions here, Dr Saadala noted that Tanzania was keen to reduce and significantly so, the number of weighbridges and roadblocks with the entry of the Single Customs Territory (SCT) and the move was in line with refurbishing both the Dar es Salaam and Tanga ports to speed up exports and imports through the Indian Ocean.

According to the Deputy EAC Minister, the weighbridges along main corridors in the country will be upgraded to be able to measure vehicles without the latter having to stop thus reducing time taken on transit.

The Secretary General for EAC, Dr Richard Sezibera, also noted that the processes to that effect were also at various stages of implementation in other countries; “The United Republic of Tanzania is currently ahead while Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya are working on the same,” he added.

With electronic cargo system it also means that imported goods headed to neighbouring countries can now be cleared at border points instead of having to queue at the harbour for the process and thus creating unnecessary congestion.

Tanzania is also working hard to ensure that the national identity cards project was a success; “We are also on course in issuing machine-readable electronic Identity Cards to the citizens; the process is slow because we want everything to be done perfectly and in fact once accomplished I doubt if there will be any other country with high-quality, modern ID cards like Tanzania,” maintained the Deputy Minister.

Dr Saadala insisted that, until Tanzania has accomplished the provision of the electronic ID cards to all the 45 million plus citizens, the country will continue to demand the use of passports for cross-border movements within East Africa.

On the other hand the deputy minister pointed out that despite the Geo-political turbulence and challenges, the Summit of Heads of State and the other stakeholders have remained on course with regards to realising regional integration.

Source: Daily News

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