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| Business |
| Stakeholders welcome border time extension |
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by
Rankin Nyekanyeka, 20 October 2005
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09:36:50
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Various stakeholders have welcomed the extension to 10 pm the time to close the Mwanza-Zobue and Tete-Calomue border posts between Malawi and Mozambique.
The Mwanza-Zobue border, the busiest in the country, used to close at 1600GMT until last year when this was extended to 1700GMT.
Road Transport Operators Association (RTOA) Executive Secretary Shadreck Matsimbe said this week the new arrangement was agreed at a bilateral meeting between Malawi and Mozambique held in Tete on October 5.
He said the reason was mainly to facilitate the movement of fertiliser and relief maize into this country.
RTOA vice chairperson Aslam Gaffar Tuesday said between July and December every year, the volume of imports and exports going through the border is high, resulting in congestion of trucks at the border.
He said the inflow of fertiliser and maize would aggravate the congestion, hence the request by the association for the extension of the opening hours at the border.
Apart from easing the congestion problem, one big advantage now is that the hauliers will no longer have to rush to beat the closing time,” he said.
With 1700GMT as the closing time it was very common for trucks and coaches, which are mostly patronised by cross border traders to and from South Africa and Zimbabwe, to be stuck at either the Zobue border in Mozambique or the no-man’s-land between Zobue and Mwanza border posts, making passengers spend a night in the coaches and without food.
Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry Executive Director Chancellor Kaferapanjira said the confederation welcomes the extension as it will benefit the business community.
“It was bad to be stuck at the borders. Any delay is an added cost and time is also crucial in a competitive business,” he said.
Mercy Chiphwanya, a Blantyre-based seasoned cross border trader is among those rejoicing now that the borders will close at 10 pm.
She said clearing goods at Mwanza border post has become a tedious process.
“It’s a hustle. It takes too long and it’s a terrible experience for someone who has travelled long distance and is tired. Those of us who bring in a lot of goods end up being left behind by our colleagues when time is up.
“This becomes expensive in that when we clear the goods the following day, we have to hire vehicles to ferry them to Blantyre when we should have simply used the same buses we came in. The extension is therefore a great relief to us,” she said.
Another Blantyre based seasoned cross border trader Isaac Banda however feels the extension will not make any difference unless Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) speeds up the clearance system.
He said sometimes two or three buses arrive at the border at the same time and MRA clears one at a time instead of deploying staff at each one of them.
“Clearing each bus takes a minimum of about three hours. You can imagine what it means if you are in the third bus. A bus can arrive at around 11 am and yet leave for Blantyre late at night.
“After we have travelled for over 24 hours, this is torture and the extended hours won’t mean much if the treatment is the same.
Shire Buslines, one of the companies that operate a coach service between Blantyre in Malawi and Johannesburg in South Africa, welcomes the extension as a “good development”
The company’s marketing officer Christopher Jimu said the move will be of great help if there are delays on the way.
“We are happy, but the situation could be even better it the border were to open 24 hours as is the case with Mchinji,” he said.
MRA Public Relations and Tax Payer Education Manager Kitty Chimseu said the organisation was part of the meeting that negotiated for the extension and is happy it worked.
She said MRA has since deployed more staff to ensure smooth operations.
“We will do all we can to ensure there are no delays in handling the maize and fertiliser at the border,” she said.
Chimseu however explained that fertiliser and the maize are duty free imports and all they require is stamping of papers.
“They will not necessarily affect normal passenger clearances,” she assured.
On complaints raised by some passengers, she shifted the blame back to the passengers saying most of them delay in declaring their goods with some under-declaring their value.
“All the same, if they have complaints, we will be happy if they communicate them to us. We are there to serve them,” she said.
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