Business Daily (Nairobi)
Ben Sanga
6 May 2008
Failure by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to auction uncollected containers and other cargo has led to a clog- up in the port of Mombasa, Shipping News can report.
It has emerged that KRA has never auctioned the uncollected cargo at the port for over 10 years despite several Press adverts expressing its intentions.
Currently, the port is packed with uncollected containers, which has seen the State corporation seek private grounds to offload such cargo to avert a crisis at the port.
KPA conducted a container census on May 1 to know how many uncollected containers were at the port. The report is yet to be released to establish the exact number.
The objective of the census, according to the management, unlike other years was to identify the owners of the containers.
The exercise was undertaken as KPA awaits the rolling out of the Kilindini waterfront system this month and as the management complains that KRA's snail pace in auctioning containers had led to a clog-up at the facility.
KPA management relies on KRA removal of uncollected cargo by public auction to create badly needed space at the port for fresh containers.
KRA has been arguing that it was not getting good prices for such cargo, though they have been placing Press adverts, which has always led to the shelving of the auction plans, according to KPA officials.
And as KRA awaits bidders to arrive, a spot check revealed that cars kept at the customs warehouses have been vandalized and what remains are nothing but empty shells. The cars have also been affected by vagaries of weather.
The law allows the taxman to auction cargo that stay at its custom warehouse for over 30 days after it has been transported by KPA.
KPA takes a cargo to customs warehouse after an importer fails to collect it within 21 days upon its arrival in the port.
The port management is now raising a red flag over the slow pace of clearing such cargo, saying that they are a major contributor to the congestions at port.
In February this year KPA management was forced to enter into an agreement with a private entity- Makupa Shade- as it went around soliciting for a space to store containers that had not been collected due to post -election violence which rocked parts of the country early this year.
The deal between KPA and Makupa saw the former offload over 800 uncollected containers at the latter's premises, which are situated near the port.
And even the management of Makupa is also raising a red flag over the containers and has been quoted in a section of the Press as urging KPA to remove the containers, saying they had stayed in the yard for over two months and no one was coming forward to claim them.
The Shade, a private entity, benefits only when an importer comes forward and pays warehouse rent, which is equivalent to the KRA's customs warehouse rent.
"It is now ten years since KRA conducted an auction despite the increasing number of overstaying cargo at the customs warehouse.
It should be noted that earlier this year we had to look for space at Makupa shade to offload over 800 containers because we had no space at all to keep them," says KPA reforms programs manager, James Mulewa.
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