By ADAM IHUCHA -- Uganda is set to deploy its customs administrators at Dar Es Salaam Harbor as Tanzania goes on a fully-fledged Single Customs Territory (SCT) in July 2015.
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) says Uganda Revenue Authority’s experts are expected by end of April to assume the duty of overseeing clearance of cargoes destined to Uganda.
From June 2014, Tanzania has been piloting the East African Community (EAC)’s SCT regime and all Uganda’s consignments have been administered by TRA.
It is understood; Rwanda, Burundi and DRC have since deployed their customs officials.
“Deployment of URA’s personnel is urgent to oversee shipments and ensure that revenues due to Uganda is paid properly” TRA’s Commissioner General Rished Bade.
Up to March 2015, significant cargos of the selected products destined to Uganda have been cleared under pilot EAC-SCT at Dar port.
For instance, data from Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) indicates that more than 5.5 million litres of petroleum products conveyed by 213 tankers and 2,070 metric tonnes of cotton seed cake delivered by 10 trucks have been cleared to Uganda.
Rwanda has received a total of 108.3 million litres of petroleum products conveyed by 3,698 tankers and 14,100 metric tonnes conveyed by 469 trucks through Dar harbor in the period under review.
In the case of Burundi 10,928 metric tonnes conveyed by 366 trucks and 5,262 metric tonnes of beer conveyed by 185 trucks have been cleared.
Deputy TRA Commissioner - Trade Facilitation and Procedures, Mr Patrick Mugoya, says that all challenges that emerged during the implementation of the SCT would be sorted out by the end of this month.
The challenges for which are being worked out by experts from the East African member states include the complexity of systems interfacing as well as the use of customs bonded warehouse.
Others are the slow pace of the cross border government agencies and regulators to adopt SCT systems and fear of job loss by the freight and forwarders.
Under the system, the process and documentation are done in the country of destination before the consignments are cleared and released at the port of entry.
Trucks often have to stop as much as 20 times, for example, between Dar Port and Kigali, Bujumbura and Kampala.
This raises transport costs by 15 per cent, according to research by the Central Corridor Transport Facilitation Agency, a multilateral Agency established on September 2, 2006, that was created by five governments--Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
As a result, currently, Uganda uses the Northern Corridor that runs from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to the Great Lakes region, which costs about $3,200 to transport a single container.
However, once the Central Corridor’s multi-modal trade and transport passage which links Tanzania’s main port of Dar es Salaam with the neighboring landlocked countries is complete; will take the cost of ferrying the same cargo $1,650 thus making it a preferred choice.
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