East African governments have been asked to come up with measures to reduce the high cost of transport. While the average cost of transport in the world is estimated at about 9%,, the cost in some of the countries in the region is as high as 48%. Despite being on the coast and possessing the harbour at Mombasa, Kenya’s high transport costs are attributed to delays in clearing cargo at the port and slow processing of documentation.

According to Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordinating Association (NCTTCA) executive secretary Onyango Matata, poor infrastructure – especially the railway – is a major stumbling block.
“The Mombasa port,” he points out, “was designed with the railway as the main mode of transport and therefore when the system is not functioning properly as it is now, major delays are experienced.


”These delays have also encouraged the formation of cartels that control the transport business, making it more expensive to transport goods from one point to another.” He added that investment in information communication technology (ICT) should be a priority of governments in the region, to reduce the time taken to transport cargo.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding a four-year, US$84million project under the Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Programme (COMPETE), bringing together key partners from the East African region who are directly involved in transport logistics. The aim is to explore measures for accelerating efficiency improvement in the East African corridor. USAID Compete Chief of Party Stephen Walls is quoted saying that the efficient movement of goods, especially agricultural produce from producers to factories and eventually to the market, is necessary if business in the region is to grow.

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