Communication blamed for PMAESA exclusion from tripartite processq

A complaint from the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa (PMAESA) that it had been excluded from the tripartite transport liberalisation process may, in fact, just have been a communication misdirection. According to Barney Curtis, executive officer of the Federation of Eastern and Southern African Road Transport Associations (Fesarta), an organising body in the talks between the three free-trade areas of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa) and the East African Community (EAC), the PMAESA was supposed to have been invited. “Ports are certainly very much part of the process,” he told FTW. “And, although I have not yet had time to check, I am pretty sure they (PMAESA) were invited. “But Comesa, where the association is based (Mombasa, Kenya), is a large organisation, and the invitation may not have been forwarded direct to the secretary general of PMAESA, Jerome Ntibarekerwa – who complained to us about their apparent exclusion, his e-mail call saying: “Ports are part of the transport sector and need to be linked with other modes of transport as one chain.” In the same vein, rail is considered to be part of the process. And, according to Curtis, the fact that this mode has not attended the tripartite meetings is not the fault of the organisers, but rather because the rail bodies would seem to have chosen not to participate. “We believe that rail is necessary to carry goods that shouldn’t be carried by road – like the bulk commodities that are so prevalent in the tripartite regions,” he said. “But this can’t happen until rail gets its act into gear. And, in the meantime, they just don’t attend the tripartite meetings. “Also, you can’t force goods from road to rail. Rail must attract goods, but it has been useless for this purpose. “In some cases, the rail has been damaged by war, and a lot of its equipment throughout the region is old and dilapidated. However, in some cases, the rail infrastructure is OK, but the management is anything but.” Curtis also maintained that there is a changing, and antirail, market development. Just-in-time (JIT), he noted, is becoming more prevalent, and you can’t change this market evolution. “JIT has been getting more and more critical, and rail is just incapable of operating a JIT product. “So this prevents rail from offering a truly market- attracting service. Air is also becoming more important as a regional transport mode, and certainly it can operate on a JIT basis. “But,” said Curtis, “they have their own forum, and don’t spend time in ours.”