Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) plan to introduce a customs section in the DRC and to order two ships later this year, in a bid to strengthen smooth movement of people and goods between the two countries.
DR MWAKYEMBE
The plans were announced over the weekend in the DRC following consultative meetings in Lubumbashi and Kinshasa between Tanzania’s Transport minister Dr Harrison Mwakyembe and his counterpart Justine Kalemba of the DRC.
The ships are to ferry people and goods across Lake Tanganyika and boost trade between the two Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states.
Mwakyembe said the Tanzania Port Authority (TPA) is also set to launch a customs section in Lubumbashi next month to mitigate smuggling and dumping of goods.
The section would also ease hurdles faced by businessmen in clearing their goods through customs and thus strengthen the transport sector between Tanzania and DRC.
Already, DRC has opened its customs section in Dar es Salaam that actively works closely with the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and TPA to combat all manner of fraud and illegal dealings that would deny both governments revenue.
Mwakyembe said the customs section to be opened in Lubumbashi will help businessmen in DRC transport and receive goods through the port of Dar es Salaam more efficiently, allowing the businesses to realise higher revenues from reduced logistics expenses.
Reports from the ministry of Transport in Tanzania said the ministries had commissioned the Congo Transport Authority – (Office de Gestion du Fret Multimodal- OGEFREM) and TPA to quickly make recommendations on the ship procurement.
The decision to purchase two new ships was reached because the current vessels operating on Lake Tanganyika are no longer profitable.
MV Liemba which still plies the Lake Tanganyika waters has been operational for well over a century and in those 100 years it has become the World’s oldest ship afloat but is still used by passengers from Burundi, Congo, Zambia and Tanzania.
These developments follow the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last year to enhance flow of transit goods through the Dar es Salaam port.
The agreement was also meant to cut down costs of doing business. On Friday last week, Tanzania and DRC customs announced plans to introduce a Single Custom Territory aimed at combating smuggling of transit cargo from the port of Dar es Salaam to the neighbouring countries.
Both parties signed the resolution early this month in Kinshasa, with Tanzania being represented by the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Acting Commissioner for Customs and Excise Duty Tiagi Masamaki.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN