Uhuru: Kenya, Mozambique to link major ports

Geza Ulole

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Uhuru: Kenya, Mozambique to link major ports
By PSCU For Citizen Digital
Updated on: 724, March 31, 2018 (EAT),


In Summary
  • President Uhuru Kenyatta has expressed the need for a link between Kenyan and Mozambican ports.
  • Speaking during the second day of his visit to the country, President Kenyatta said the ports of Maputo, Beira and Nacala are key to the regional market of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
  • He added that the ports of Mombasa and Lamu play the same role in the East Africa region.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has expressed the need for a link between Kenyan and Mozambican ports.

Speaking during the second day of his visit to the country, President Kenyatta said the ports of Maputo, Beira and Nacala are key to the regional market of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

He added that the ports of Mombasa and Lamu play the same role in the East Africa region.

“We want to see how our shipping lines can be further developed so that we can increase trade within the two regions,” President Kenyatta said after a tour of Port Maputo thst is currently being expanded to increase its capacity.

During the meeting with Speaker Verónica Macamo on Friday, the President also announced Mozambican citizens will no longer require visas to enter Kenya.

He further noted that Kenya would open a Consulate in Maputo, one that will eventually be upgraded to an embassy.

“Our forefathers fought for political liberation. It falls upon us to ensure economic liberation, to ensure the artificial boundaries created by former colonial masters are removed and that our people are free to travel, trade, do business and marry without obstacles,” he said.

In regards to the recent unity deal between him and Opposition leader Raila Odinga, the President said leaders have to learn to work together irrespective of their political affiliations.

“The ruling party and the opposition serve the same people. There is no need for daily altercations. We have to work closely to deliver development to our people,” President Kenyatta said.

The Mozambican Speaker, whose delegation included members of the country’s ruling party FRELIMO and Opposition party RENAMO, said working closely together builds democracy.

President Kenyatta also noted that the three arms of government: the Executive, Parliament and Judiciary, serve the same interests and must always ensure they can depend on each other.

This comes even as the Kenyan Judiciary and the State engage in a tussle over the deportation of fiery Lawyer Miguna Miguna over his citizenship.

President Kenyatta was in Mozambique for the second day after holding talks with his host President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday on strengthening political and economic ties.

He was accompanied by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, Foreign Affairs CS Monica Juma and other key government officials.

MY TAKE
R we having COW II? Seems in every term Uhuruto try to play relevance by coming up with something to try to sabotage Tanzania that her geographical location can't be ignored. I curiously want to know what happened to maize consignment from Zambia that Tanzania forced Kenya to use TAZARA?
 
Ilipitia Port of Maputo, revenue mkapoteza. Si ulicheki Uhunye alikuwa Zambia na Lungu? Huu mchezo hauhitaji kujipiga kifua.
 
mwaswast said:
Ilipitia Port of Maputo, revenue mkapoteza. Si ulicheki Uhunye alikuwa Zambia na Lungu? Huu mchezo hauhitaji kujipiga kifua.
Click to expand...
That's not true read bellow


Financial Standard
Where is the Sh8b meant to make maize affordable by the poor?
By Dominic Omondi
Published: Jan 9th 2018 at 08:51, Updated: January 9th 2018 at 10:46
As the maize subsidy programme comes to an end, focus now shifts to the dealmakers who may have illegally pocketed slightly over Sh8 billion from the unga crisis.

Financial Standard’s analysis of a recently released report by the national statistician shows that the Government might have paid importers at least Sh27 billion for 7.5 million bags that they imported from Mexico in the first phase of the subsidy programme which ended on September 30, 2017.

This means that the subsidy programme in the first phase cost taxpayers at least Sh9.7 billion after the Government paid importers Sh3,600 for each bag of maize and sold the same to millers at Sh2,300. This is Sh3.2 billion more than the Sh6.5 billion allocated to the programme on May 2017.

Moreover, not less than 2.5 million bags, over and above the five million bags shortfall the Ministry of Agriculture said was to be covered through duty-free import of white maize from Mexico, might have been sneaked into the country. Or taxpayers might have lost at least Sh3.1 billion that would have gone into critical development projects.

This comes at a time when the maize flour subsidy programme has come to an end with the price of a two-kilogramme packet in some supermarkets adjusted upwards to Sh130 from a controlled price of Sh90.

In what is likely to re-ignite the controversy surrounding the subsidy programme, which came into place following an outcry over runaway price of maize flour, profiteers might have taken advantage of a crisis to fleece Kenyans of billions of shilling.

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Data in the latest Quarterly Balance of Payments by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), shows that raw maize valued at Sh27.6 billion was imported into the country between April 2017 and September 2017, as the Government moved to ease the pain of consumers after a steep rise in the price of unga.

However, after going through critical government documents and revisiting a number of official pronouncements, the Financial Standard estimates that in the period under review, white and yellow maize valued at not more than Sh19.6 billion was supposed to enter the country through the duty-free window.

Under the duty-free regime set in motion on April 13, 2017, private individuals and agencies were allowed to import into the country five million bags of non-GMO white maize, while 22 animal feed manufacturers were licensed to import 450,000 tonnes of yellow maize valued at Sh10 billion.

KRA Data

Although the data given by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) does not differentiate between white and yellow maize, we estimate that not more than Sh3.6 billion worth of yellow of maize would have been imported during this period.

This means that under the duty-free regime the country should have imported by end of September 2017, yellow maize valued at Sh3.6 billion and white maize valued at Sh16 billion (or five million bags), bringing the total value of imported maize to Sh19.6 billion in the third quarter of 2017.

But data from KNBS shows that maize valued at Sh27.6 billion came into the country, to reflect Sh8 billion more than what was supposed to be imported. So where did maize worth Sh8 billion come from? Who paid for it, and who pocketed the money?

Dr Timothy Njagi, a research fellow at policy think Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, said they had since done some estimates which showed that the Government might have imported about 6 million bags of maize by October 2017. “Because the Government said it has been releasing a million bags to farmers every month so by October we could impoort six million bags,” explained Njagi.

This means by September, the country could have imported five million bags going by Njagi’s estimates.

According to Government estimates, a 90-kg bag of white maize from Mexico landed cost stand at Sh3,200, with the Government paying importers about Sh3,600 for every bag or an extra Sh400. The Government would then sell to local millers under the subsidy programme at Sh2,300, subsidizing them by Sh1,300.

The millers were then expected to distribute a two-kilogramme flour packet to stores for sale at Sh90, and a kilogramme at Sh47.

It all started on March 30, 2017 when National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, in his budget statement in Parliament promised to waive import duty on white maize. This was to help bring down the price of flour which had by then averaged Sh155 for a two-kilogramme packet from Sh121 earlier the same month.

“Mr. Speaker, considering the hardship and the suffering associated with the recently declared national disaster as a result of the widespread drought in the country, white maize will be imported on a tax free basis for a period of four moths,” said Rotich in his budget speech for 2017/18.

On April 13, Mr Rotich in a gazette notice allowed “any person” to import white-maize duty-free until July 31, 2017. He also licensed 22 animal feed manufacturers to import 450,000 tonnes of yellow maize by August 31.

Importation of yellow maize was supposed to reduce the pressure on white maize.

However, the Government realised that allowing business people out to maximise profits to import the maize without controlling the price of the end-product would not have the desired results.

Subsidy programme

So, three weeks later on May 5, an Inter-ministerial Committee was formed. In its first meeting, the committee came up with the maize flour subsidy programme that “targeted all the available local and imported maize stocks,” according to the Agriculture ministry in a report to a parliamentary committee.

An official at the East African Grain Council (EAGC) told Financial Standard that even before shippers could bring into the country duty-free white maize, the Government had replaced it with the subsidy programme.

“Now, the Government was the sole buyer and sole supplier of maize in the country,” said the source.

Uganda and Tanzania - who Kenya runs to for duty-free maize when things get thick - had also been hit by a drought. They were not selling their depleted stock of maize. Tanzania even criminalised export of the cereal.

So Mexico, Zambia, South Africa, Malawi and Ethiopia were identified as potential sources of white maize were. A shortfall of five million bags was projected until the next local harvest.

“Through monthly county field reports as well as field assessment by national government, a shortfall of five million bags of maize was projected for importation by May 2017. The importation would be required up to end of August 2017 when early harvest crop is expected, especially from parts of Nyanza, Western and South Rift Regions,” said the Ministry of Agriculture in a report to Parliament.

For the first consignment of imported white maize, about 29,900 tonnes of maize, or 332,222 bags owned by Pembe Flour Mills Ltd, Kitui Flour Mills Ltd and Hydery (P) Ltd, the Government paid Sh1. 2 billion. It subsidised millers by Sh431.9 million after selling to them maize at Sh2,300 per bag.

The ship, MV IVS Pinehurst, which carried the cargo is said to belong to Holbud , a firm based in the UK and run by Hasnain Roshanali Merali.

As at June 30, 2017 official records show that four different ships would have brought into the country 144,900 tonnes of white maize from Mexico, or 1.6 million bags. All the consignments, the Ministry of Agriculture believed, were brought by Merali’s Holbund.

The maize was valued at Sh5.1 billion, with the Government paying Sh5.8 billion for them before selling to millers at a subsidised cost of Sh3.7 billion.

With records showing that the country imported about 7.5 million bags by September 30, it would take five similar ships docking at the port of Mombasa every month from July to September to attain the 5.9 million bags deficit.

Although we could not establish exactly how much went into the importation of yellow maize, on September 3, media reports quoted the Ukrainian government, the only country that was to supply Kenya with yellow maize, saying it had by then exported corn worth $17.5 million (by then about Sh1.8 billion) to Kenya.

“This is 111,500 tonnes,” a local daily quoted the Ukranian ministry.

While it was possible to import 450,000 tonnes of yellow maize in six months, it was highly unlikely that such quantity had entered the country by September 30, 2017.

In fact in August, officials at the Agriculture ministry were quoted decrying the poor importation of yellow maize.

Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett even went ahead to say that traders were shunning importation of yellow maize as it is not as lucrative as importation of white-maize.

Moreover, the Government might have overestimated the demand for yellow maize that would go into the manufacture of animal feeds.

According to KNBS’ food balance, for four years since 2012, only about 80,000 tonnes of maize, or less than two per cent of total stock of maize produced and imported into the country annually, went into production of animal feeds.

Thus, 111,500 tonnes of yellow maize that had already been imported was a lot; 450,000 tonnes was just an over-kill.

But even if between September3 and September 30 Ukraine had exported to Kenya corn worth Sh3.6 billion, there was still a huge difference of imported maize valued at Sh24 billion.

So, who brought into the country the extra Sh8 billion worth of maize? And did the maize really come from outside?

Efforts to reach both Treasury and Ministry of Agriculture to respond to these questions did not bear fruit.

Both Mr Bett and his Principal Secretary did not respond to our text messages. Principal Secretary to National Treasury Kamau Thugge also did not respond to our text messages, even after calling him three times.

dakure@standardmedia.co.ke

RELATED TOPICS:
maize subsidy scheme
Food shortage
unga
 
Exports to SADC will nolonger pass through Tz. That's the main take! They will use the SGR to transport export goods to Mombasa, then onwards tp Mozambique by sea (which is cheaper anyway) then from there it will go to the rest of the SADC countries.

Once we achieve that route by sea, it also means it will be cheaper for Uganda,Ethiopia, Sudan to send goods through Mombasa and Lamu port to be exported to SADC countries that are not Tz
 
Mozambique-Infrastructure Development-Economy
Mozambique targets 2018 to build $2.7 billion railway
  • September 04, 2017 to 13:44
APA-Maputo (Mozambique)
Mozambique's Ministry of Transport and Communications has set a 2018 target to start construction of a $2.7 billion coal export railway and port terminal project in the central region of the country, hoping to conclude it in the first quarter of 2021, APA can report on Monday.

image: https://mobile.apanews.net/storage/app/uploads/public/59a/d5a/8a6/59ad5a8a608f1380771502.png


The head of the Ministry’s legal department, Luis Chauque, told APA in an interview that the government has picked Bangkok-based contractor Italian-Thai Development Pcl to construct the 537 km rail line, from
the Moatize coal mines in Tete province to Macuse on the coast in Zambezia province.
"The project forms part of ambitious plans made by Mozambique with foreign investment partners to become a major exporter of metallurgical and thermal coal to the global market, based on estimated reserves of at least 2 billion tonnes", Chauque said.
The official added that these are the world’s fourth-largest untapped recoverable coal reserves, and the project includes a new deep water port at Macuse, and a railway from the Moatize coal basin to Macuse, a
distance of around 500 kilometres.
"The construction of a new railway from the western province of Tete to Macuse, on the coast of Zambezia province, should begin in late 2018, and be concluded in the first quarter of 2021", Chauque said in an interview with APA on Monday.
Companies like Vale of Brazil and Rio Tinto have invested billions of dollars, helping Mozambique launch in 2011 as a coal producer and exporter. Mozambique is currently exporting around 5 million tonnes of coal, and is developing capacity to rapidly increase this.
According to Chauque, the main purpose of the new railway and port will be to export coal from Tete and the proposed railway will be much shorter than the existing lines from Moatize to the ports of Beira and
Nacala-a-Velha.
Macuse port will be able to take ships of up to 80,000 tonnes while Beira, a port which must be regularly dredged, cannot match this capacity, although Nacala-a-Velha can take ships of any size.
It is precisely the lack of available modern railways and ports that places Mozambique at a big costs disadvantage when compared with major coal producers like Australia, putting big new projects under pressure at a time of low coal prices.
Despite the challenging market conditions, Brazil’s Vale is also pressing ahead with its own $4.5 billion project developing a 900 km rail corridor from its Moatize mine to Nacala port in northern Mozambique. The first coal train on this new line, which will cross the small neighbouring nation of Malawi, is expected to run by the end of the year to Nacala port.
The Moatize-Macuse rail-port project, which foresees deep-water container and general cargo facilities, as well as a coal export terminal at the port, will need existing major coal miners operating in Tete to come onboard with shipments.
Mozambique’s ports development plan sees a massive ramping up of tonnage handling capacity over the next three years to 2020, as a country still stricken by widespread poverty and recovering from a 1975-1992 civil war hopes to benefit from huge coal and offshore natural gas deposits discovered in recent years.
Mozambique’s own infrastructure deficit reflects a situation existing across Sub-Saharan Africa, where the potential of exploiting untapped national resources is being held back by the absence of road, rail and
port networks to get the oil, gas and minerals out easily to world markets.
The World Bank has forecast that coal and gas may generate up to $9 billion in revenues by 2032 for the southern African state, which is still poor and recovering from the devastating civil war.
Rio Tinto , Brazil’s Vale and India’s Jindal have invested heavily in developing Mozambique’s coal deposits, the fourth-largest untapped recoverable coal reserves in the world.
However, billions of dollars of investment in rail and port expansions are still needed to carry the coal from the inland resource/rich Tete mines to the seaborne market.


CM/afm/APA


Read more at Mozambique targets 2018 to build $2.7 billion railway - Apanews.net
 
mwaswast said:
Ilipitia Port of Maputo, revenue mkapoteza. Si ulicheki Uhunye alikuwa Zambia na Lungu? Huu mchezo hauhitaji kujipiga kifua.
Click to expand...
Ongezeni juhudi za kuzalisha chakula muachane na aibu ya kuzungukia chakula kwa nchi za majirani.
 
Kafrican said:
Exports to SADC will nolonger pass through Tz. That's the main take! They will use the SGR to transport export goods to Mombasa, then onwards tp Mozambique by sea (which is cheaper anyway) then from there it will go to the rest of the SADC countries
Click to expand...

Dude you don't know the SADC. Learn more about it.
 
The Port of Dar es salaam is being rendered obsolete very soon as Tanzania isolates itself. Mahindi kutoka Zambia to Kenya itakuwa inapitia Maputo. Very soon hata copper from Zambia itapitia Maputo which is even a shorter route.
 
Kafrican said:
Exports to SADC will nolonger pass through Tz. That's the main take! They will use the SGR to transport export goods to Zambia by sea (which is cheaper anyway) then from there it will go to the rest of the SADC countries
Click to expand...
the rail to connect the coast of Mozambique to the SADC countries look so


 
Kafrican said:
Exports to SADC will nolonger pass through Tz. That's the main take! They will use the SGR to transport export goods to Mombasa, then onwards tp Mozambique by sea (which is cheaper anyway) then from there it will go to the rest of the SADC countries
Click to expand...
What goods does Kenya sell to SADC? Uhuru is looking for alternative route for food imports not exports. JPM is no nonsense and has proved that he can cause problems to national security by banning transit food cargo from being transported through TZ
 
mwaswast said:
The Port of Dar es salaam is being rendered obsolete very soon as Tanzania isolates itself. Mahindi kutoka Zambia to Kenya itakuwa inapitia Maputo. Very soon hata copper from Zambia itapitia Maputo which is even a shorter route.
Click to expand...
Port of Dar is not dependant on Kenya's food imports. This is very silly from you
 
mwaswast said:
The Port of Dar es salaam is being rendered obsolete very soon as Tanzania isolates itself. Mahindi kutoka Zambia to Kenya itakuwa inapitia Maputo. Very soon hata copper from Zambia itapitia Maputo which is even a shorter route.
Click to expand...
keep dreaming
 
Mkikuyu- Akili timamu said:
Port of Dar is not dependant on Kenya's food imports. This is very silly from you
Click to expand...
Who said it is? Mahindi nilikuwa ipitie Tz lakini itakuwa unapitia Mozambique so hasara ni kwenu...revenue lost kwa kujipiga kifua. We Kenyans are never bullied but we bully our way through.
 
Geza Ulole said:
keep dreaming
Click to expand...
Uganda, DRC, Rwanda na Burundi tuliwatia kikapuni kitamba sana. Mozambique na Zambia pia wako box yetu sasa nyie hako kaport kenyu itabitadi kacheze na kina Morogoro and other small villages in Mainland Tanzania.
 
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