The Uganda Revenue Authority’s Mutukula One Stop Border Post collected sh617 billion in revenue from August 2016 to June 2017 in the 2016/2017 financial year.
In a statement, URA Assistant Commissioner for Public and Corporate Affairs, Ian Rumanyika, says that the revenue collected has grown steadily and reduced the cost of doing business over the past three years.
URA has credited improved performance over the period to the integration of technology and eliminating double clearance of trucks and persons on both sides of the border which has led to varied changes in the last three years.
As such, URA says OSBP, an integrated border system, leads to improved efficiencies through streamlined, coordinated and harmonised procedures under one roof/structure.
“At Mutukula, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) officials jointly serve importers, exporters and travellers. This facilitates trade and quick movement of passengers,” Mr. Rumanyika said in the statement.
Customs initiatives like OSBPs and the Single Customs Territory (SCT) have catapulted growth in volumes of goods cleared through Mutukula from sh384bn in 2013 to sh617bn in 2017 and exports from sh93bn to sh251bn over the same period.
In Tanzania, sh27,776,716,217.00 ($12m) was collected from August 2016 to June 2017, the time during which the Mutukula OSBP has been operational compared to the 2014/2015 when sh18,646,417,015.00 ($8.1m) was collected.
The results come at the back of increased revenue collections, increased seizures of prohibited and restricted goods and increased information sharing between border agencies within Uganda and with Tanzania among others.
TradeMark East Africa, with funding from UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Global Affairs Canada, has funded the construction and operationalization of the Mutukula border point.
The construction of the physical infrastructures started on 13th July 2011 and was completed on 12th July 2015.
Since the establishment of the Mutukula OSBP facility, there has been an increase in the number of Government institutions/border Agency presence at the border from 9 to 16.
Other OSBPs in Uganda are Mirama Hills connecting Uganda to Rwanda, Busia & Malaba connecting Uganda to Kenya. TradeMark has injected over $117m OSBPs in the region.
