The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) will soon introduce a US$5.2 million Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) in the East African nation to help curb the influx of low priced goods, masqueraded as international goods.
URA discovered some goods come into Uganda and declared as goods intended for another country, thereby avoiding import tax, only for the goods to be sold in the Ugandan market, leading to an unfair competition due to their low pricing.
The Ugandan government has therefore partnered with World Bank and Trade Mark East Africa in coming up with the project expected to be fully launched by November this year.
Richard Kamajugo, customs commissioner at URA, said that ECTS uses automatic devices attached to a truck ferrying goods.
This device sends regular updates to customs control center teams on the vehicle location, speed and whether the container has been tampered or not.
The system is also expected to increase efficiency of URA in clearing goods on time, while increasing revenue collection in the country.
Allen Kagina, URA Commissioner General, and BSMART Technology boss Stephen Teang, have already signed a memorandum of understanding for the project.
Kagina said the system will allow customs officers to receive regular updates on the merchandise.
“From the private sector angle, this is a great boost. The current processes are costly. They cannot ensure paramount security to goods entering and exiting the country,” Kassim Omar, the chairperson of the National Monitoring Committees on NTBs (Non-Trade Barriers) in Uganda, told The Observer.
