Infrastructure challenges and unmanifested cargo are still delaying customs clearing, thereby affecting trade facilitation at Mwanza One-Stop Border Post, a new study has indicated.
The Time Release Study was disseminated on Wednesday in Lilongwe where consultant Khwima Singini presented the findings to stakeholders that included Ministry of Industrialisation, Business, Trade and Tourism, Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) and Southern African Development Community (Sadc) customs officials, among others.
Singini said on average, imports take one day and six hours to clear while exports take nine hours.
at Mwanza Border. | Nation
He said sometimes trucks wait for several days before being cleared due to lack of cargo scanners at the border while some trucks carry unmanifested goods apart from the one assigned to carry.
Said Singini: “There are some delays at the border, with some of them caused by unmanifested cargo as well as infrastructure issue. For example, Mwanza Border does not have an electronic cargo scanner.
“There are also elements of risk management. Currently, a lot of cargo does not go through the risk management profiles under customs.”
MRA commissioner for customs Cornelius Kakwesa said some delays are caused by drivers who carry extra cargo (unmanifested), but struggle to pay for customs, affecting the whole shipment despite the official goods being cleared on time.
He said: “Most of the times we finalise the clearance on time, but there are other institutions such as Malawi Bureau of Standards, Ministry of Agriculture, police, among others, that need to do their work as well.
“We may clear the goods that are the main consignment within an hour or two, but some carry goods that are unmanifested and we make sure that these goods are cleared.”
Kakwesa said those people do not want to pay for duty that is charged on the unmanifested goods; hence, they delay everything although their goods are small, which is unfair to major importers.
On his part, Professional Drivers Union of Malawi secretary general Mphatso Moleni said there is need for the drivers to undergo training on some issues.
He also said drivers’ delays at Mwanza Border are caused by lack of parking space on Mozambican side of the border, as such, they prefer to wait on Malawi side.
Speaking at the event, Ministry of Industrialisation, Business, Trade and Tourism director of trade in services Catherine Chilima said the study will enable stakeholders to work together to fix some of the issues that could be resolved easily to ensure trade facilitation is enhanced, especially at border posts.
Earlier, MRA indicated that it expects its customs monthly revenue at Mwanza One-Stop Border Post to go up by eight percent from K24 billion to K26 billion when the facility opens.
The project was funded by the World Bank with support from Southern Africa Trade and Connectivity Project to the tune of K5.5 billion.
