Zimra back to old system, calculating duty for vehicle imports

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority has been forced to revert to calculating duty for vehicle imports at Beitbridge border post after their information and technology officers failed to address internet connectivity at the Manica bonded warehouse.

Prior to this Zimra was handling all the vehicle clearance processes at the Manica transit shed except for payments which were to be made at the border post for security reasons.

The Herald is reliably informed that problems at Manica mounted when Zimra introduced the Asycuda Plus system for processing vehicle import duty in March this year in a bid to ensure efficiency. Asycuda (Automated System for Customs Data) is a more efficient and advanced system for customs data processing since it is internet-based.

Before the introduction of Asycuda, the revenue authority had been relying on a system which is based on the local area network.  The new system is connected to the organisation's national grid. However, the system has strongly affected the processing of car imports due to intermittent connectivity challenges.

A Zimra official at the border post said yesterday they were forced to do the calculations at the border as efforts to resuscitate the Asycuda system at Manica were taking ages.

"This has brought a lot of pressure on us as we have to shuttle between Manica and the border post for valuations and duty calculations," said the officer.

Zimra spokesperson Mr Canisio Mudzimu could not be reached for comment yesterday as his office and mobile phones went unanswered. As of late yesterday only physical examinations, popularly referred to as PE and the processing of customs clearance certificates were being done at Manica.