Government ease doing business with new container depot

NAIROBI, KENYA: The government has moved to ease cargo collection for small scale importers in Nairobi.

Effective Monday all consolidated cargo imported by sea and transported to Nairobi through the Standard Gauge Railway, will be deconsolidated, cleared, and collected by the owners at the Kenya Railways Corporation (Boma Line) Transit Shed.

The gazetted facility will make it easier for over 7,500 small scale traders in Nairobi to conduct business.

"All cargo consolidated at the countries of export, will, upon importation into the country be deconsolidated at facilities designated for that purpose," KRA said in a statement.

The shed, also known as ‘Boma line’ has been set up as part of government efforts to facilitate and enhance ease of doing business.

The small traders will now not pay the USD1000 as container deposits which will subsequently reduce the cost of doing business.

The establishment of the ‘Boma Line’ is part of initiatives to bring services closer to taxpayers and facilitate them to conduct their business effectively and efficiently. For instance, going forward traders from far areas such as Nanyuki and Sagana will no longer incur huge transport costs to ferry their goods from ICDN as this shade will be easily accessible.

Cargo for the SMEs will be transported from Kilindini Port to ICDN, Embakasi, and later transshipped to the Transit Shed using Metre Gauge Railway (MGR). At the shed, consolidated cargo will be stripped from containers and stored in Customs shed while being arranged according to their nature with marking for easy tracking and identification.

An empty container (PHOTO: File)