News / Regional
Zimbabwe border chaos, roadblocks frustrate investors
04 Feb 2015 at 06:56hrs | Views
DELAYS in clearing traffic at the Beitbridge Border Post, the busiest transit link in southern and eastern Africa, are responsible for the high transport costs incurred by businesses resulting in increased pricing of consumer and intermediate goods, a survey has shown.
A recent study done by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) on non-tariff barriers to business in the region indicates that border delays come top of the table amid calls for Zimbabwe and South Africa to improve the efficiency of their customs and immigration services.
The delays experienced by trucks carrying goods to and from Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Tanzania and northern Mozambique push up transport costs and the price of consumer goods, says the report.
The SAIIA study estimated that more than 400 trucks cross the Beitbridge Border Post every day and that they experience average delays of about three days crossing the border.
These can extend up to a week and truck drivers have reported being delayed for up to two weeks at times. Each delay is estimated to cost $400 per truck per day and adds to the price of the goods they are carrying.
"These excessive delays are themselves the cause of further delays. There is huge pressure on cross-border truck drivers - they drive all day, have to wait in queues at the border for 10 hours, and then need to sleep the whole of the next day.
"Furthermore, the delays cause serious unpredictability, which means that it's difficult for transporters and agents to plan logistics. This has a knock-on effect that can disrupt future transport schedules," said SAIIA.
It is estimated that a delay of three days could increase the price of transported petrol by about 3.3 percent and transported sugar by about three percent.
The survey says hardware such as scanners used by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) needs to be upgraded to deal with high traffic volumes.
"Zimra's information technology also needs to be upgraded to prevent the frequent communication crashes between the Beitbridge and Harare offices, which added to the delays as documentation couldn't be processed. SARS and Zimra should also harmonise their customs software to expedite processing," it said.
High transport costs and trade logistics have been identified as some of the major cost drivers of the economy alongside numerous roadblocks.
Presenting a report on measures to enhance industrial competitiveness recently, Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha acknowledged the stated constraint and said the issue has been brought before Cabinet with recommendations made for quick operationalisation of the border authority and reduction of roadblocks.
"Numerous roadblocks along major routes have become a non-tariff barrier and hence the high costs and delays in the transportation of goods. It was also observed that the border inefficiencies added to the frustration of businesses and commerce," said the minister.
SAIIA said the situation at the border post was worsened by the poor condition or lack of capacity of both soft and hard infrastructure with the road leading to the border post bottlenecked into two lanes travelling in each direction - one for passenger vehicles and the other for commercial vehicles.
"The situation is aggravated by the fact that trucks share a lane with passenger buses. Border officials often let too many buses through at a time, causing severe delays, as each passenger needs to be cleared by immigration. The entrance to the first customs checkpoint is a confusion of commercial and private vehicles, foot traffic, metered taxis and minibus taxis," reads the report.
It said lack of order at the entrance to the border also creates confusion with uncontrolled movement of foot traffic coming across the old river bridge, informal traders and hawkers and taxis blocking trucks and buses.
The survey says the problem has been compounded by power shortages on both sides of the border with concerns that generators are poorly maintained and too small to service all the electricity needs.
As all customs clearance entries are done electronically, when the power supply is cut off, no entries can be processed and the entire process grinds to a halt.
The high prevalence of crime on both sides of the border post is another challenge with reports of armed robberies and thefts mainly targeting truck drivers.
The report says truck drivers operating on a 10- or 12-day working permit often have problems when delays are experienced on the road (for example, due to a technical breakdown) and "immigration officers employ delay tactics, such as confiscating the truck driver's passport, so that their work permits expire".
Drivers with only one or two days left on their work permits are also a target because immigration officials tell them they need to report to their home countries (most commonly Zambia) to have the permit extended, when all that is required is crossing into Zimbabwe, says the report.
It said Zimbabwe levies hefty import tariffs on many consumer goods compared to South Africa hence most drivers find it easy to co-operate with smugglers to illegally bring these goods into the country.
The report recommends upgrading of the road network to cope with increased volume of traffic going through the border, harmonising customs software between SARS and Zimra, construction of a proper taxi rank and places for informal traders.
A recent study done by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) on non-tariff barriers to business in the region indicates that border delays come top of the table amid calls for Zimbabwe and South Africa to improve the efficiency of their customs and immigration services.
The delays experienced by trucks carrying goods to and from Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Tanzania and northern Mozambique push up transport costs and the price of consumer goods, says the report.
The SAIIA study estimated that more than 400 trucks cross the Beitbridge Border Post every day and that they experience average delays of about three days crossing the border.
These can extend up to a week and truck drivers have reported being delayed for up to two weeks at times. Each delay is estimated to cost $400 per truck per day and adds to the price of the goods they are carrying.
"These excessive delays are themselves the cause of further delays. There is huge pressure on cross-border truck drivers - they drive all day, have to wait in queues at the border for 10 hours, and then need to sleep the whole of the next day.
"Furthermore, the delays cause serious unpredictability, which means that it's difficult for transporters and agents to plan logistics. This has a knock-on effect that can disrupt future transport schedules," said SAIIA.
It is estimated that a delay of three days could increase the price of transported petrol by about 3.3 percent and transported sugar by about three percent.
The survey says hardware such as scanners used by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) needs to be upgraded to deal with high traffic volumes.
"Zimra's information technology also needs to be upgraded to prevent the frequent communication crashes between the Beitbridge and Harare offices, which added to the delays as documentation couldn't be processed. SARS and Zimra should also harmonise their customs software to expedite processing," it said.
High transport costs and trade logistics have been identified as some of the major cost drivers of the economy alongside numerous roadblocks.
Presenting a report on measures to enhance industrial competitiveness recently, Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha acknowledged the stated constraint and said the issue has been brought before Cabinet with recommendations made for quick operationalisation of the border authority and reduction of roadblocks.
"Numerous roadblocks along major routes have become a non-tariff barrier and hence the high costs and delays in the transportation of goods. It was also observed that the border inefficiencies added to the frustration of businesses and commerce," said the minister.
SAIIA said the situation at the border post was worsened by the poor condition or lack of capacity of both soft and hard infrastructure with the road leading to the border post bottlenecked into two lanes travelling in each direction - one for passenger vehicles and the other for commercial vehicles.
"The situation is aggravated by the fact that trucks share a lane with passenger buses. Border officials often let too many buses through at a time, causing severe delays, as each passenger needs to be cleared by immigration. The entrance to the first customs checkpoint is a confusion of commercial and private vehicles, foot traffic, metered taxis and minibus taxis," reads the report.
It said lack of order at the entrance to the border also creates confusion with uncontrolled movement of foot traffic coming across the old river bridge, informal traders and hawkers and taxis blocking trucks and buses.
The survey says the problem has been compounded by power shortages on both sides of the border with concerns that generators are poorly maintained and too small to service all the electricity needs.
As all customs clearance entries are done electronically, when the power supply is cut off, no entries can be processed and the entire process grinds to a halt.
The high prevalence of crime on both sides of the border post is another challenge with reports of armed robberies and thefts mainly targeting truck drivers.
The report says truck drivers operating on a 10- or 12-day working permit often have problems when delays are experienced on the road (for example, due to a technical breakdown) and "immigration officers employ delay tactics, such as confiscating the truck driver's passport, so that their work permits expire".
Drivers with only one or two days left on their work permits are also a target because immigration officials tell them they need to report to their home countries (most commonly Zambia) to have the permit extended, when all that is required is crossing into Zimbabwe, says the report.
It said Zimbabwe levies hefty import tariffs on many consumer goods compared to South Africa hence most drivers find it easy to co-operate with smugglers to illegally bring these goods into the country.
The report recommends upgrading of the road network to cope with increased volume of traffic going through the border, harmonising customs software between SARS and Zimra, construction of a proper taxi rank and places for informal traders.
Source - chronicle
