Tanzania omits Kenya from preferential transport deal

Clearing agents at Namanga town in Kajiado County, barricade the road in protest. The more than 100 agents were protesting what they termed as police harassment while on duty. They appealed to the relevant authorities to intervene. Transport at the border paralyzed for more than two hours before police intervened. [photo/PETERSON GITHAIGA]

Kenya has been left out of a new deal brokered by Tanzania that seeks to lower cross-border charges on trucks ferrying goods across the borders.

The deal announced by the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (CCTTFA) will see Ugandan and Burundian trucks that cross Tanzanian borders charged $152 (Sh15,397) from $500 (Sh50,165) that was charged before.

Kenyan trucks have been excluded from the deal.

CCTTFA Executive Secretary Dieudonne Dukundane said during a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) capacity building workshop in Arusha that cross-border charges have been a huge impediment to free flow of trade and need to be harmonised.

“The three countries of Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi have agreed to lower these charges,” Mr Dukundane told Tanzanian daily, The Citizen.

“We have an agreement to harmonise the cross-border charges and in fact, a transit truck pays only $152, down from $500 to pass through Tanzanian borders,” he added.

CCTTFA is tasked with easing cross-border trade especially by improving transport logistics between Tanzania and its neighbours.

The agency also runs the Tanzanian Central Transport Corridor, a main competitor for Kenya’s Northern Corridor in attracting transit cargo through each country’s coastal ports.

Tanzania President John Magufuli has been on the forefront in promoting the corridor, upgrading the ports of Dar es Salaam and Tanga, while at the same time building a new Standard Gauge Railway that is about to be completed.

The Northern Corridor is run under the ministry of East African Community.

It is a major entry point into the East African hinterland and connects the landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi all the way to Ethiopia, with the Mombasa port.