Kuria border post to be expanded on new land

Kuria East MP Marwa Kitayama.

The small but busy border crossing point at Nyamtiro in Kuria on the Kenya-Tanzania border will be expanded into a fully-fledged Customs and Immigration centre following acquisition of required land.

Kuria East MP Marwa Kitayama said the National Government Constituency Development Fund will buy the land and donate it to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) for the expansion of the border point that has been raking in good revenue despite its size. 

Between 2017 and 2018, the centre collected Sh856,391, which increased to Sh941,947 in 2018-2019 and Sh3,583,575 to date.

On Thursday, senior KRA officials visited Nyamtiro to meet the local community over the planned upgrading of the border post. Locals have complained that the current post was small and gave room for smuggling along the border.

Kenya has been losing millions of shillings to smugglers working across the border.

Kitayama said they have allocated Sh10 million through the constituency fund to buy land.

Tax collection

Residents of Nyamtiro endorsed the project during the meeting.

“The community has already given out 10 acres of land which will be paid for by CDF to enable the project to start. We know the entire community will benefit from this border post,” said a local resident, Mwita Marwa.

Kitayama said there was a provision in law allwoing CDF to finance such a project.

“Tax collection will rise because those who have been avoiding paying tax by using illegal routes will now have nowhere to hide,” he said.

KRA Acting Western Regional Coordinator John Orioro said they were happy with the good gesture from the MP and the local community and would ensure the new border post was built.

“KRA is ready to deliver on its mandate. I urge the community to treat customs officials as their brothers and sisters. Our mandate is to safeguard Kenyan borders and collect revenue which will eventually help in improving economic growth,” he said.