Coast transporters differ over Uhuru speech

By Willis Oketch

The Budget speech has drawn mixed reactions from Coast transport sector stakeholders.

Kenya Shipping Council CEO Gilbert Lang’at praised Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta for allocating Sh2 billion to improve railway transport.

"This is the first time a Finance Minister has considered views of stakeholders in the shipping and transport sectors," said Lang’at.

He said cost of transport for goods from Mombasa port would be lower once the railway line is upgraded. He also welcomed the Sh140 billion for infrastructure development.

But the Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association national vice chairman Peter Mambembe expressed disappointment. He said the Budget failed to address problems of tariffs at the port.

Mr Mambembe said the minister did not lower duty on imported vehicles as expected.

"The 25 per cent tariff for imported vehicles is high," he said.

Storage charges

He was also disappointed over failure to reduce storage charges for containers at the port.

"We want the minister to address this issue because it makes some importers run to neighbouring ports since Mombasa is expensive," he said.

Mambembe said port users also expected Uhuru to lift the ban on importation of old second-hand vehicles.

"We want Kenyans to be allowed to import up to 10-year-old vehicles like in neighbouring countries," he said.