Small and Medium-sized Enterprises will now be able to clear their goods at the Nairobi Railway Station without the burden of paying Ksh100,000 as container deposits.
President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the new clearing order while launching a new Container Freight Station on Tuesday, November 10, at the Kenya Railways Corporation transit shade. The transit shade is expected to serve about 7,500 traders.
He scrapped the strenuous cost adding that traders will now effectively and efficiently carry out their businesses.
“We want traders to conduct business in a conducive environment without being harassed so that they can grow and create jobs as they pay more taxes.
"With this facility, they will not have to pay the Ksh100,000 as container deposits, which will subsequently reduce the cost of doing business,” Uhuru said.
Initially, the consolidated goods were cleared as a single container unit at the Inland Container Depot.
Through the President's directive, goods worth Ksh1 million and below will be cleared through a mobile application and goods above the amount will be cleared through a registered agent in the Customs system.
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) alluded that the initiative would enable the authority to collect a monthly tax amounting to KSh100 Million to help in their current projections as it recorded a 15 % financial drop during the first quarter of the 2020/21 financial year.
Uhuru noted that plans were underway to construct another shade to accommodate about 300- 40 ft containers from the current 100. This would yield an estimated Ksh1 billion monthly taxes.
He further pointed out that traders would also have the option of receiving their goods in other towns like Nakuru, Nanyuki and Kisumu once the same setup is implemented.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani lauded the project stating that traders working in the Central Business District would not have the burden of traveling to Embakasi, Nairobi County to collect their goods.
This, he added, would reduce transport cost and enable efficiency in business operations.
