The Kenya Ports Authority has given importers a 30-day notice to claim and remove their goods from Customs Warehouse, failure to which the authority will auction them.
Among the goods listed are equipment imported by CMC Di Ravenna, the Italian firm facing graft charges over the Kimwarer and Arror dams scandals.
“Pursuant to the provisions of Section 42 of the East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004, notice is given that unless the under-mentioned goods are entered and removed from the Customs Warehouse within 30 days from the date of this notice, they will be sold by public auction on October 27, 2021,” the gazette notice read.
The multi-million equipment include dump stations used for the safe disposal of raw sewage and muck cars used for tunneling.
CMC Di Ravenna shipped in the equipment in 2018 for the dams' construction projects but financial woes have seen it fail to clear the equipment leading to the auction move by the ports authority.
Small-scale traders dealing in imported goods are also among those facing major losses from the planned cargo auction by KPA.
This is because cargo consolidators who import goods on behalf of small traders and businesses that buy in small quantities and do not have the ability to fill up shipping containers were mentioned by the port authority.
There has been an increasing number of goods auctioned as importers are unable to clear cargo at the port.
Recently there was a standoff as health machines for Kakamega county were held at the port due to failure to pay due taxes but they were later cleared.
Recently, the taxman announced a planned public auction of undeclared personal items that were seized from Kenyans re-entering the country through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and owners intentionally failed to declare them in order to avoid paying taxes.
