Arusha-Voi road facelift to improve trade: report

Arusha. Volumes of traffic and revenue collection at the Holili border post will pick up tremendously after rehabilitating the Arusha-Voi road.

A report presented to Finance and Planning minister Philip Mpango ahead of yesterday’s official inauguration of the first integrated border post in East Africa showed that the flow of goods would  be eased.

The Tanzanian officials at the shared facility said the anticipated increase of  the volume of goods and people through the introduction of One-Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) would partly depend on the condition of the roads connecting them with the adjacent countries.

 They said although revenue collection had increased reasonably well since the integrated border post at Holili on the Tanzania-Kenya border was operationalised, the traffic volumes per day had not changed much compared with the same before the introduction of the facility.

“It is our hope that the number will rise when the construction of the Taveta-Voi road is completed,” the report said.

The Arusha-Moshi-Holili road extends from the Taveta border post in Kenya to Voi (a total of 157km) and its upgrading through a loan from the African Development Bank) is aimed at improving movement of people and goods within the region. It will also link the Mombasa Port with northern Tanzania and the land-locked EAC member countries.

 The stretch on the Kenyan side is part of the the Arusha-Moshi-Holili-Taveta-Voi road which will be massively upgraded under the East African Road Project and now nearing completion.

 A similar work has started on the Tanzanian side but only for the 14km portion from Arusha to Tengeru. The remaining 96km stretch to Moshi and the border town, which had been in paved condition, for decades will await the availability of funds from the donors, according to the East African Community (EAC) officials.

 While civil works have just started on the dual-carriage between the city and Tengeru township, the construction of a by-pass road around Arusha that will link the Namanga road with the highway to Moshi and which is part of the $240-million road project, is yet to begin as it is awaiting compensation of families whose houses would be demolished.

 President John Magufuli and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta will on Thursday lay a foundation stone for the Arusha-Holili road at Tengeru. A similar event took place at Taveta on the Kenyan side last October and was graced by the Kenyan leader and Dr Jakaya Kikwete before the latter stepped down.

 Yesterday’s inauguration signaled the beginning of the operationalisation of the OSBP concept, the  arrangement which reduces the number of stops incurred in a crossborder trade transaction by combining the activities of both countries’ border organisations at a single location with simplified exit and entry procedures and joint processing, where possible.

Vehicles and pedestrians only stop in the country of entry and perform exit and entry border formalities. OSBP is achieved by placing the border officials of two adjoining countries at each other’s adjoining border post so that each border post controls only the traffic entering the country.

The event was graced by the minister responsible for East African Cooperation, Dr Augustine Mahiga,  and the Cabinet Secretary holding the EAC docket, Ms Phyllis Kandie.

It took place in the presence of high-ranking officials from both countries and respresetatives of the development partners including the Japan International Cooperation Agency which financed the project and TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) which has been involved in its execution.

According to TMEA, a donor-supported organisation formed in 2010 to facilitate cross-border business in the region, until last year the Holili border served only between 40 and 50 trucks of goods but the traffic volume is expected to increase significantly to 400 to 500 trucks a day.