TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) and the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA) yesterday signed a financing agreement worth US$ 1.05 million.TMEA will disburse the money to the NCTTFA secretariat over a 3-year period (2018 – 2021). Funding will enable the agency to collect and analyse data related to transport of goods and persons along the transport corridor, therefore informing decision making The Northern Corridor is East Africa’s main transport corridor that begins at the port of Mombasa with two routes; one through Uganda to South Sudan and other through Uganda, to Rwanda, Burundi to DR Congo. NCTTCA member countries include Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Democratic republic of Congo. NCTTCA oversees the corridor monitoring framework known as Northern Corridor Transport Observatory, which is a performance monitoring tool that informs interventions geared towards reducing costs and delays of transportation and other related logistic a, challenges. With the new financing, the Authority will improve monitoring of the Northern Corridor performance with regards to movement of people and goods. It will adopt modern technologies, including mobile based and online systems, to enhance its capability to monitor trade and transport flows, bottlenecks and impact of interventions. Data collected will support evidence-based advocacy and decision making. This initiative will complement monitoring the implementation of the Mombasa Port Charter. TradeMark was represented by Country Director for Kenya, Ahmed Farah, while NCTTCA was represented by Ag. Executive Secretary Fred Tumwebaze. NCTTCA collects data from over 20 stakeholders in all the member countries with the main contributors being these countries’ revenue authorities, roads authorities, ports and railway authorities, transport associations and private sector institutions closely affiliated to trade and transport. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
