RATIN

Trademark East Africa commits US$1.05m

Posted on April, 19, 2018 at 09:31 am


By Prossy Nandudu

Construction of the Northern Corridor transit transport route has been boosted with US$1.05m from Trademark East Africa. The funding will enable the agency to collect and analyze data related to transport of goods and persons.

This follows the signing of a finance agreement between Trademark East Africa (TMEA) and the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA) on Tuesday. The money will be channeled from TMEA through NCTTCA.

The agreement was signed by NCTTCA acting executive Secretary, Fred Tumwebaze and Ahmed Farah from TMEA.

The Northern Corridor is East Africa’s main transport corridor that begins at the port of Mombasa with two routes; one through Uganda to South Sudan and the second one through Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi to DRC.

NCTTCA member countries include Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Democratic republic of Congo, adds a press statement from TMEA.

NCTTCA oversees the corridor monitoring framework known as Northern Corridor Transport Observatory, which is a performance monitoring tool that informs interventions geared towards reducing costs and delays of transportation and other related logistics challenges.

With the new financing, the Authority will improve monitoring of the Northern Corridor performance with regards to movement of people and goods.

The statement adds that the authority will adopt modern technologies, including mobile based and online systems to enhance its capability to monitor trade and transport flows, bottlenecks and impact of interventions.

Information from TMEA indicates that data collected will support evidence-based advocacy and decision-making, resulting to fit for purpose interventions in reducing costs and time along the Northern Transport corridor.

Tumwebaze added that NCTTCA collects data from over 20 stakeholders in all the member countries with the main contributors being these countries revenue authorities, roads authorities, ports, railway authorities, transport associations and transporters and private sector institutions closely affiliated to trade and transport.

Source: New Vision