• Macharia on Friday said that the new rules apply to cargo being moved to Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan and will be effected on June 1.
• The matter was agreed on following a virtual conference among EAC leaders on May 12 to discuss the coronavirus pandemic.
Image: FILE
Cargo headed to countries within the East African Community will from June be transported via SGR, Transport CS James Macharia has said.
The CS said the move follows heads of state - apart from Tanzanian President John Magufuli - directing ministers in charge of Transport, Health and EAC to adopt a Digital Surveillance and Tracking System for drivers.
This is expected to bring an end to the long queues being witnessed along border points by transit vehicles transporting cargo to neighbouring countries.
Macharia on Friday said that the new rules apply to cargo being moved to Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan and will be effected on June 1.
The matter was agreed on following a virtual conference among EAC leaders on May 12 to discuss the coronavirus pandemic.
Macharia said that the ministries in charge of transport from EAC agreed that there is need to take measures to reduce the spread of the virus.
They agreed that all the transit cargo heading to Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan should either be transported through the Standard Gauge Railway or the meter gauge railway.
The cargo to be ferried using SGR will be cleared at the Naivasha Inland Container Depot.
The CS said that the concerned countries will send their agencies to Naivasha Inland Container Deport to facilitate the clearance of the cargo before the order takes effect.
The cargo will be railed to Naivacha ICD before being collected by trucks to the various destinations via Busia or Malaba.
Also, fuel products will be transported via pipeline to Kisumu and thereafter by Lake Victoria to Port Bell or Jinja.
The cargo containers being transported via SGR will be lined up at Naivasha to be tracked through Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking system.
The CS has further said that the containers either full or empty on the meter gauge rail will be delivered to the ICD before being transported to the Port of Mombasa via SGR.
This is meant to reduce virus transmission which has been linked to truck drivers crossing borders.