The construction of the one-stop border post between Kenya and Tanzania — at Taveta/Holili — is to be finalised by the end of this week and should be operational by March next year.

The border post will give transporters a reprieve as it should significantly reduce the time taken to clear goods and passengers. Another seven border posts will be set up next year.

Poor infrastructure and non-tariff barriers have been cited as the biggest threats to businesses in Africa, overtaking political risk, business executives said.

Business leaders speaking at the Africa Summit organised by the Economist Group in Kigali, Rwanda two weeks ago said transport costs were high due to delays at ports and borders, bad roads and rail networks and barriers.

While the five EAC partner states have in principle agreed to remove non-tariff barriers by December, this largely depends on good faith on the part of the five countries due to the absence of a legally binding framework.

The construction of the Taveta border post on the Kenyan side has already commenced and should be finalized by the end of 2013. The other one stop border posts that are already under construction include the Tanzania/Uganda- Mutukula; Kenya/Uganda- Busia and will be ready by mid 2013.

The designs of two one stop border posts between Rwanda/Uganda- Kagitumba/Mirama Hills; and Burundi/Tanzania- Kobero/Kabanga have been finalised with construction set to start in the first quarter of 2013.

Also the design of the post between Tanzania/Zambia- Tunduma/Nakonde and between Uganda/South Sudan- Elegu/Nimule is expected to begin early next year. TradeMark Africa is investing about $75 million in seven border posts across the region.

“In this case trucks and passengers from Mombasa in Kenya travelling into Tanzania will no longer stop on the Kenyan side for inspection and clearance before they proceed but instead a joint process will be conducted on the Tanzanian side at Holili border,” said Sjoerd Visser director of the one stop border post at TradeMark Africa adding that this will ease transport and save time.

Frustration is growing among business people in landlocked countries like Rwanda that are paying a heavy price for the unnecessary and costly delays caused by non-tariff barriers like weighbridges, clearance delays at borders and port inefficiencies in Kenya, through which their goods must pass.

READ: State of the EAC: Too many delays

“The region has the worst transport network in terms of timeliness of delivery, tracking and tracing, logistics and competitive pricing. The most significant drag is infrastructure” said Charles Okeahalam, the chief executive officer at AGH Capital, a South African-based private equity and investment firm.

The concept

The one stop border post concept aims to reduce transit costs incurred in cross-border movements by combining the activities of both countries’ border organisations and agencies at either a single common location or at a single location in each direction without increasing risk to public safety or revenue collection.

“This means that traffic on each side of the border will stop at the entry point instead of both points on the border,” said Mr Visser. “Upon its completion it means that trucks and passengers from Mombasa into Tanzania will stop at Holili in Tanzania for inspection and only at Taveta when coming from Tanzania to Mombasa.”