Eala monitors implementation of Single Customs Territory in TZ

TICTS executive director Paul Wallace (right) explains to members of the East African Legislative Assembly how a new container lifting machine works. The Eala members visited the Dar es Salaam Port yesterday. PHOTO | SAID KHAMIS 

By Katare Mbashiri,The Citizen Reporter

In Summary

• The commissioners are mobilising public awareness since the promulgation of SCT at the regional Heads of State summit last year.

Dar es Salaam. Five commissioners from the East African Community (EAC) member states are in the country to monitor and evaluate progress on the implementation of the Single Customs Territory (SCT).

The commissioners are mobilising public awareness since the promulgation of SCT at the regional Heads of State summit last year.

According to Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) acting commissioner general Lusekelo Mwaseba, the result of the work that the commissioners of customs have been doing with active participation and support from a number of other key stakeholders including the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) have enabled the implementation of SCT in a phased approach.

“Whereas piloting of the Single Customs Territory started in October 2013 along the Northern Corridor, on the Central Corridor piloting commenced in June 2014,’’ he said.

Mr Mwaseba, who was addressing members of the East Africa Legislative Assembly (Eala) who visited TPA yesterday, said, currently, petroleum products imported into Rwanda and Uganda through Dar es Salaam are cleared under the Single Customs Territory scheme.

“We are using streamlined customs processes with no multiple declarations, no multiple security bonds, and reduced interventions in terms of road blocks, check points and weigh bridges. In the same regard, wheat grain imported into Burundi and Rwanda is also cleared under the new streamlined SCT procedures,” he said.

According to him, notable progress has been achieved in trade between the partner states adding that currently, certain selected transfers from Uganda and Kenya to Tanzania are cleared under the Single Customs Territory scheme.