Call for region-wide ICT integration to address border delays

A lack of integrated border management and very little cross-border co-operation between authorities – along with cumbersome procedures – continue to challenge transporters in Southern and East Africa. According to Barney Curtis, chief executive of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta), these are some of the issues being taken up with the Tripartite Alliance that includes SADC, EAC and Comesa. “One of the possible solutions we came up with at the first Truckers’ Forum that was held in Johannesburg earlier this year was that border operations should not necessarily be managed by central governments, even though they would provide the policies and documentation,” said Curtis. “The use of standardised documentation and operating procedures throughout the region will also go a long way to solving the problems at border posts According to John Mathenge, a freight forwarding expert in the southern and East African region and a member of the managerial committee of the Comesa regional Customs Bonds Guarantee, there has been much talk of trade facilitation amongst governments in the region but if one looks at border procedures and border regulation there is very little facilitation taking place. “The aim would be to see the Tripartite trade as one where goods can move across 27 countries on the continent without worrying about what border is being crossed,” he said. “At the moment each country has its own set of regulations around how to control trade, and intra-regional trade is hampered by government agencies who have their own mandate for their particular country.” According to Curtis, one-stop border posts are the answer but this has to be accompanied by a region-wide integrated ICT system with electronic submission and acquittal of documents. “Some of the border posts in our region are also old and the infrastructure is inadequate. One way of addressing this is by channelling a percentage of the fees collected at the borders into infrastructure specifically,” he said. INSERT ‘Goods should be able to move across 27 countries on the continent without worrying about what border is being crossed.