Dar es Salaam. The government yesterday directed the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and institutions dealing in the clearing of goods at Dar es Salaam Port to work under one roof in order to further reduce dwell time. Some institutions responsible for clearing of goods out of customs control include the Tanzania Shipping Agencies Corporation (Tasac), Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Tanzania Medicine and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) and Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA). The directive was issued by the Works, Transport and Communication minister, Mr Isack Kamwelwe, when briefing the press after a joint meeting of the TPA and Tasac boards. Mr Kamwelwe said the decision aims at improving efficiency and providing solutions to various challenges listed after Dar es Salaam Port started operating for 24 hours, seven days a week. “Dar es Salaam started operating for 24 hours a day and seven days a week on May 8, 2017, implementing President John Magufuli’s directives issued during the Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) meeting,” he said, adding. “But, clients have reported the absence of some key players during the process, disrupting the purpose of commencing the new setup, causing inefficiency of the port and deny the government with appropriate revenues.” He said the permanent secretary in his docket has been directed to form a committee that pass through challenges outlined by clients and suggest means of resolving them. “The committee’s composition and members will be announce shortly, but will be ensure all challenges are addressed including overseeing performance of all institution...

The Kenyan government is determined that the Big Four Agenda in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s national plans delivers on the objective of creating jobs and enhancing economic transformation by 2022. The Big 4 will help Kenya to achieve faster growth in investment to reach the Kenya Vision 2030 target of at least 32 per cent of GDP. This will in turn accelerate economic growth towards the double digit growth, create jobs and enhance wealth. This means closing the current gap of more than six per cent in the next two years or so. It is not going to be an easy task, but it is one that can be achieved with the right policies, focused implementation and well-thought investments. The country must prioritise manufacturing by making it profitable for local companies to produce for export, boost their capacities to expand within the country and focusing on small enterprises growth and productivity. Although Kenya’s position in the region as a preferred investment destination remains strong, its competitiveness wavers due to a myriad of factors, the most critical of which can actually be resolved. Uhuru, Raila-backed plebiscite will bring changes we all desire The solutions, however, will require political goodwill and strong sustainable policies whose impact will last for years to come. Already, we are seeing heightened activity to improve the road and rail infrastructure. Apart from mega projects like the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), the Dongo Kundu bypass in Mombasa and Kwale, the Lamu port and its associated infrastructure, there are plenty...

ESTABLISHMENT of fully serviced industrial parks with plug and production facilities to attract investments is one of the proposed actions to gain quick wins in the promotion of the cotton, textiles and apparels (CTA) manufacturing industries in East Africa. The 1st forum of owners of cotton, textiles and apparels (CTA) manufacturing industries was held in Kigali mid this week with Rwanda proposing for sustainable procurement of all institutional uniforms, beddings, draperies by state institutions from textiles and fabric industries in the region. Another resolution of the forum was to carry out campaigns on ‘Buy East Africa, Wear East Africa including implementation of the declaration of Fridays as ‘Afrika Mashariki Fashion Day’ and organising the Annual ‘Afrika Mashariki Fashion Week’ exhibition to precede the EAC Heads of States Summit Meetings normally held on 30th November every year. Opening the Forum, Rwanda’s Permanent Secretary of Trade and Industry, Michel Minega Sebera, noted that CTA has the potential to create employment, improve economic well-being and widen the tax base in the region. Sebera called on EAC partner states to fast track the phasing out of the second hand clothes in order to reap the benefits of the sector. He informed the meeting that in 2016, Rwanda started implementing the Summit directives and embarked on the phase out of second hand clothes. The PS disclosed that the phasing out of second hand clothes in Rwanda had attracted new investments in the sector and led to more than 15 new companies investing in apparels. He...

It is an indisputable fact that African countries do not trade enough among themselves. To make any meaningful headway and register economic growth, countries within the continent must boost intra-regional trade. This will also help accelerate economic growth and development on the continent. The government of The Gambia through the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment in collaboration with partners has been spearheading initiatives geared towards promoting trade within our continent. Regional trade integration has long been a strategic objective for Africa with some success in eliminating tariffs within regional communities. However, more still needs to be done. The signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement by the overwhelming majority of African countries is a historic step towards rationalising Africa’s regional trade arrangements, deepen economic integration and draw on economies of scale and development of regional value chains. These many believe, would further accelerate the process of structural transformation of African economies. As a flagship project of the African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, the AfCFTA seeks to bring on board all the 55 African countries with a combined population of more than 1.2 billion people and a combined gross domestic product (GDP) exceeding US$2.5 trillion, making the continent the largest free trade area created since the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Analyst believe that Africa could double intra-regional trade by easing non-tariff barriers, including customs procedures and improving the continent’s poor transport infrastructure; that doing this will help boost economic...

On May 30, 2019 Africa made history as the Agreement establishing the AfCFTA officially entered into force. With 54 out of the 55 member states of the African Union signing the agreement, Africa brought into being the largest trading block since the formation of the WTO. The entry into force of the AfCFTA is also marked by the speed at which African countries worked together within a year to establish a regional trading block to promote intra-African trade following the adoption of the AfCFTA on March 21, 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda. Following the ratification and entry into force of the AfCFTA, 5 supporting Operational Instruments were launched during the AU Summit held in Niamey, Niger in July 2019. These instruments are the key tools that will support the launch of the operational phase of the AfCFTA with start of trading scheduled for July 2020. The occasion also marked the announcement of the Republic of Ghana as the country to host the AfCFTA Secretariat. The operational instruments of the AfCFTA 1.The Rules of Origin: A regime governing the conditions under which a product or service can be traded duty free across the region. 2. The Tariff concessions: It has been agreed that there should be 90 per cent tariff liberalisation and the deadline is 1st July 2020. (Over a 10 year period with a 5 year transition, there will be an additional 7 per cent for “sensitive products” that must be liberalised). This will be supported by the AfCFTA Trade in Goods online portal...

In a couple of weeks, Kenya will open the first phase of its multi–billion dollar Lamu Port, the beachhead to the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) Corridor. That will be the second new logistics corridor after the Djibouti-Ethiopia standard gauge rail that went into service a few years ago. Yet to be done, Djibouti is also in the middle of a mega project to expand its port while to the south, Tanzania which has in recent years completed upgrades to the Dar es Salaam port, is now betting on a new port at Bagamoyo. Invariably, all these projects target the Eastern Africa hinterland with all contenders aiming to be the logistics hub of the region. Looking at East Africa’s or even Africa’s logistics map, it is not in dispute that the region and continent suffers a huge infrastructure deficit. But must the projects be this grandiose? There is indeed a case for developing infrastructure but a sense of proportion and degree of co-ordination are needed to make these projects viable. Multiple corridors provide critical redundancy in the event of failure, if they are inter-linked. But their economic efficiency needs to be looked at in more practical than academic terms because the economies are racking up huge debt to build these projects. For instance, the Lapsset Corridor aims to link Lamu, South Sudan and Ethiopia along a logistics umbilical cord comprising rail, an oil pipeline, electric power and roads. At the same time, if at all the Kenya standard...

Deputy President William Ruto has said Kenya has to do more to make it a preferred gateway to Africa for investors. He said the country must adopt a radical and progressive stance in reforming the business and regulatory environment. “Intensified collaboration between the Government, development partners and the private sector would firmly drive Kenya into being the continent’s business hub,” he said during the launch of the World Bank’s Doing Business in Kenya 2020 Report on Thursday in Nairobi. Dr Ruto said despite being ranked 56th globally out of 190 countries, first worldwide in the Protecting Minority Investors indicator and third in Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya should not rest on its laurels if it is to rewrite its economic trajectory. By putting in more effort in pro-business policies and programmes, the Deputy President noted that more international flows would be realised, and more jobs and wealth generated. Leaders present during the function were East African Community CS Adan Mohammed, World Bank Group, Finance Competitiveness and Innovation Regional Focal Point Augustine Langyintuo, Development Partners Representative Julius Court, Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua and Kenya Private Sector Alliance CEO Carole Kariuki. Dr Ruto said the Government had upped its efforts in not only making it easy for businesses to flourish but also towards turning Kenya into a home to a thriving army of talented and innovative entrepreneurs. “Positioning on its own is not enough, strategic intent must go with action. This is what led to the President’s directive in 2014 to embed...

,p>Last week, Kenya and the entire East African region witnessed a historic occasion as President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the next phase of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), originating from Nairobi and terminating at Suswa. It is instructive that this launch is part of the execution of Kenya the Railways Master Plan that sets to transform the national and regional railways network with a view to providing efficient, safe and reliable rail transport services. Whereas critics have christened this phase of the SGR as “a railroad to nowhere”, the benefits that will accrue from this project cannot be overstated. For starters, this will be an efficient railway network catering for increased demand for both passengers and goods transport along the northern corridor, besides addressing traffic congestion within the urban and peri-urban areas. Secondly, the railway line will play a huge role in decongesting the port of Mombasa as the increased capacity of transport infrastructure will meet the existing transport demand at the port, resulting in the movement of high freight volumes. The region is also set to become a competitive investment destination as the SGR will lead to higher speeds, thus reducing transit times between destinations and, consequently, lowering costs of production. Additionally, better access to markets will aid the exploitation of various resources in the region. End of SGR boom hits Bamburi Cement profit Finally, a viable railway transportation solution will ensure seamless connectivity that will enhance regional integration, reduce carbon emissions and wear and tear of roads and consequently,...

The government of Zambia has signed a US US $147m deal with Africa Inland Container Depot (AFICD) of Tanzania for the establishment of a dry port in the central town of Kapiri Mposhi. According to the signed agreement, the port will be an integrated logistics and industrial hub that will provide services to clients across eastern, central and southern Africa thereby increasing regional market access for Zambian products. Dry port project The project will be built on a Build-Lease-Transfer (BLT), Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model. The area where the Kapiri Mposhi Dry Port is earmarked for is located on the northern side of New Kapiri Mposhi Railway station, measuring approximately 4.3756 hectares (10.81 acres), with an already installed gantry crane of 36mt lifting capacity. CEO of the IDC Mateyo Kaluba said that construction will be done in two phases. Phase one will involve construction of the dry port while the second phase will see an establishment of a multi-facility economic zone. Share holders The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the investment arm of the Zambian government, will hold 15% of shares in the project while the Tanzanian firm, Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) will hold 85%. The Dar es Salaam Corridor Group (DCG) will take hold of the four-hectare piece of land, construct the Dry Port, operate (lease) it for 25 years and, thereafter, transfer all the immovable assets to TAZARA. Approximately 500 jobs will be created during construction and up to 3,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created when the dry port becomes operational. “This is a...

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenya’s port of Mombasa will spend 20 billion shillings ($193 million) to modernise four berths to handle both container cargo and goods not packed in containers, the head of the state port operator said. The port, built in 1895, is the main trade gateway for the Eastern Africa region, serving Kenya and seven neighbours, including Uganda, Somalia, Rwanda and South Sudan. The investment is driven by growing demand for imported cargo in the region, where most economies are growing by at least 5% per year, said Daniel Manduku, the managing director of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA). Exports make up just 15% of the cargo that goes through Mombasa every year, with a third of the total belonging to neighbouring countries, while Kenya, the region’s biggest economy, takes up the lion’s share. Annual cargo traffic through the port is projected to jump to 47 million tonnes in 2025 from 32 million tonnes last year, Manduku said in an interview at the port. “We are currently undertaking major expansion programmes... We are trying to be ahead of the game.” The volume of cargo handled is expected to rise to 34 million tonnes this year, including 1.4 million 20-foot containers. Popular imports include clinker for cement manufacturing, steel, fertiliser and grains. The European Investment Bank and French development agency AFD have offered to finance the modernisation of the berths at commercial rates, Manduku said. “We think it is something we should consider, as opposed to normal commercial bank...