The Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA) has spelt out a number of recommendations to enhance seamless flow of the cargo through various One Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) in the East Africa region.
To address the delays at Malaba border post, NCTTCA in a report generated from transport observatory reports issues No. 1 to 14, recommends full implementation of Single Customs Territory.
Established in July 2014, the SCT has reduced the cost of doing business by eliminating duplication of processes. It has also reduced administrative costs, regulatory requirements and the risks associated with noncompliance on the transit of goods. This is because taxes are paid at the first point of entry for all the partner states for a selected number of goods that are being cleared through SCT.
Most One-Stop Border Posts, one of the SCT initiatives, have recorded a reduction in clearance and transit time at the borders leading to effective use of available resources and assets at a lower cost for the cargo being cleared through SCT.
The NCTTCA report suggests sensitisation of the industry players of regulations and procedures for clearance through customs and immigration.
Malaba has in the recent past recorded higher border crossing time. The report recommends scaling up efforts to explore the idea of opening another border station between Kenya and Uganda, preferably located between Busia and shores of Lake Victoria to ease flow of goods between the two countries.
“ These delays reverse the gains made by OSBP and SCT initiative calling for enhanced systems connectivity and provision of enough parking yards at the border to reduce congestion,” the report said, adding that there is need to do border audit to identify any bottlenecks affecting the flow of traffic and if need be, review the standard operating procedures and removal of duplicate procedures.
The report recommended to the Government of South Sudan and the development partners to support the country’s National Revenue Authority to construct a dry port at Nesitu to minimize congestion and delays in clearance of goods for home use at Nimule border.
To enhance quick response towards addressing operational challenges at the border stations, the NCTTCA secretariat should support Member States in the formation of cross border stations where they do not exist.
“Furthermore, they should periodically generate and issue performance reports on the key border crossing indicators to the respective border stations as a way of monitoring performance,” the report said.
It further said that there is a need to upgrade the border station at Lwakhakha Suam River and Amudat and the road network leading to these stations.
Other recommendations include installation of LAN and WAN infrastructure with power back up and establishment of a digital scanner to minimize delays or easy verification of goods at the border stations.
Since 2010, TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) has partnered with the East Africa Community and its member states including Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan to implement 15 One Stop Border Post and adopt Integrated Border Management Systems.
OSBPs facilitate faster movement of goods and persons across borders by reducing the number of stops incurred in a cross-border transaction by combining activities of neighbouring countries at a single location.
