Govt to revise ‘too low’ foreign truckers’ border entry fees

Sat, 14 Jan 2017 10:56:34 +0000

By MAILESI BANDA

 GOVERNMENT has directed the Road and Transport Safety Agency (RTSA) to revise the tariffs for the entry of foreign trucks at all the borders points in the country to compete fairly with other countries, director of transport in the Ministry of Transport and Communication, Nicolas Chikweya, has said.

He was responding to concerns by local truckers and tanker drivers that Government was deliberating aiding and abetting the dominance of foreigners in the trucking business in Zambia who were allegedly servicing 85 percent of the transport sector in Zambia.

Mr Chikweya said the ministry had received a number of complaints from local transporters that they were being subjected to high tariffs when entering other countries while those being paid by foreign truckers entering Zambia were very low.

He said the ministry was committed in ensuring that a level playing field was created for local transporters to compete fairly.

“The Ministry of Transport and Communication has written to RTSA to revise the charges paid when entering the country and make them competitive in the region. We have information that charges in other country are too high and so we will come up with reciprocal tariffs that we will slap on them,’’ he said.

Mr. Chikweya said they had engaged the RTSA and the Truckers Association of Zambia to help in coming up with reciprocal tariffs.

He refuted allegations by local transporters that the Government was neglecting local transporters and supporting foreigners who constituted 85 percent of the total transport sector servicing the country.

“We have noted with regret that our transporters are having difficulties to get in to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) due to the high tariffs while at the same border transporters easily get into our country; we are committed as Government to break these barriers,’’ he said.