{{The Kenyan government has ordered concerned departments to cut time taken by cargo on the Mombasa-Malaba road from 18 to 5 days.}}
The measure is another measure aimed at boosting commercial relations with Uganda and other landlocked countries that have been looking for an alternative transit route because of inefficiencies along the Northern Corridor.
“The Head of State said the current situation where a container takes an average of 18 days to reach Kampala from Mombasa was untenable,” the Presidential Press Service (PPS) reported after a meeting attended by executives of agencies involved in clearing movement of cargo.
The agency said the measure should be implemented in the next three weeks with progress being assessed during cabinet meetings which are usually held on a weekly basis.
Last week President Kenyatta ordered sweeping administrative changes to improve efficiency of cargo clearance at Mombasa Port, the highlight being placing all the agencies under the Kenya Ports Authority.
The Kenya National Bureau of Standards (KEBS) was also ordered to construct a testing facility at the coast.
All government agencies involved in cargo clearance were also ordered to take orders from Kenya Port Authority (KPA) boss and finalise their operations in Mombasa without reference to their headquarters.
During Thursday’s meeting President Kenyatta ordered the formation of a Cabinet sub-committee of Cabinet Secretaries dealing with the Northern Corridor which will report to him during every Cabinet meeting on progress towards improving efficiency.
Beyond the border, the inefficiency and slow pace of moving goods on the northern corridor has in the past seen landlocked neigbours, especially the Uganda-based shippers, threatening to dump Mombasa for Port of Dar es Salaam.
At some point last year, Uganda was leading a campaign to join hands with Rwanda and Burundi in building another transport corridor through Tanzania and eventually ditch northern corridor.
Shippers based in the three countries have also complained against restrictive axle weight rules at weighbridges, open bribes demanded by Kenya Police and arbitrary charges levied by agencies such as Kenya Plant Inspectorate Service.
The port of Mombasa serves most of the countries in the East African region. According to KPA 2012 performance data, Uganda remains the predominant transit destination of transit cargo passing through Mombasa Port accounting for 4.85 tonnes or 73.1 per cent last year’s total transit traffic.
South Sudan, emerging as a new key transit destination, took second place after Uganda, with a total traffic of 766,656 tonnes or 11.6 per cent share of the 2012 transit traffic followed by Democratic Republic of Congo with a total of 482,358 tonnes.
Rwanda (of 260,238 tonnes), Tanzania (186,169 tonnes) and Burundi (39,160 tonnes) took the fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively.
NMG
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