Writes Leo Odera Omolo.

Kenya is set to drastically reduce the number of road blocks and weighbridges on its roads in the next five months as the county seeks to ease the movement of goods and services in the region, quelling growing of discontent in East African Community member counties over costly non-tariff barriers.

While reading this year’s budget in parliament, last week the Finance Minister Robinson Njeru Gidhae said the government will review relevant regulations and guidelines to ensure all weighbridges are relocated to ports of entry and roadblocks are either removed or reduced to bare minimum.

“Kenya and the EAC region can ill-afford the high costs associated with delays usually occasioned by weighbridges and roadblocks along the Northern Corridor, which serves our landlocked neighbors Uganda, Rwanda and DRC Congo,”said Minister Gidhae.

The Minister made these remarks while reading the country’s estimates and budget for the year 2012/2013 fiscal year.

While the five EAC partner states of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi have agreed in principle to remove non-tariff barriers {NTBs} by December 2012, this will largely depend on the willingness of the different countries in the absence of legally biding framework.

“Frustration is growing among the landlocked countries like Rwanda, that re paying heavy price for the unnecessary delays caused by NTBS like weighbridges and port inefficiencies in Kenya, through which their goods must pass.”

Rwanda last month threatened to take its neighbors to court over the continued existence of NTBs in the EAC, which it says increases the cost of doing business for its industries, making them uncompetitive.

Kenya, the Finance Minister disclosed, is also aiming to cut cargo clearance times at it coastal port city of Mombasa to a maximum of three days from the current 7-14 days, and at the Jomo Kenyatta Intentional Airport to one day.

For good being moved by road, cargo clearance times should drop to just one hour from the present two days.

Kenya is also to finalize a trade promotion strategy whose implementation will expand and diversify exports with particular attention to high value primary products such as macadamia and cashew-nuts that have shown excellent prospects in the export market”, said the Minister.

He added, “we will continue with the collaborative infrastructure investment, and remove inefficient Customs procedures including complicated rules of origins and other non-tariff barriers in line with the existing EAC protocols,”

At the same time the Nairobi based weekly, the EASTAFRICANS, a publication of the Nation Media Groups quoted the Permanent Secretary to the East African Ministry David Nalo as saying that the removal or reduction of roadblocks, especially on the Northern Corridor from Mombasa to Kampala through the border post town of Busia will drastically reduce the cost and time of doing business in the region.

“The landlocked countries in the region stand to benefit most as the cost and time or doing business will reduce and consumers will have easy and cheaper access to goods and services”, said Nalo.

Ends