Kampala, Uganda | URN | Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has banned trucks from parking outside bonded warehouses or container depots in an effort to control the movement of truckers amid COVID-19 pandemic.
In a circular this morning, the tax body said trucks carrying cargo shall be permitted to only park inside boarded warehouses or internal container depots. This, URA wrote, does not include roads along the Container Depots and Warehouses.
A bonded warehouse or bond is a building or other secured area in which dutiable goods may be stored and come out after paying owed taxes. When imported, most goods are first taken there.
Truck drivers are now seen in the region as the biggest threat in the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Most of the new cases being reported in Uganda involve truck drivers. Parking along the roads outside bonded warehouses means the drivers can easily mingle with the population or lure women around.
Now URA and government, say they must not park anyhow or wherever they want. Another order is that trucks leaving the border and destined for Kampala and arrive from 4pm, will park at Namboole stadium or at Mukono RVR Kyetume.
These, URA says, have been designated parking areas for trucks stopping in Uganda or those going through to neighbouring countries. “Such trucks are not allowed to stop or park in any other area other than these gazzetted stops,” URA says.
For a truck to leave Namboole, there has to be confirmation that the warehouse where it’s headed has enough space to accommodate it or warehouse owners have provided space where they can be camped.
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On Tuesday 12th, EAC heads of state ordered in a videoconferencing that truckers must now be tested and handed a certificate in origin countries before they depart to another country.
Even when EAC says they don’t want to temporarily stop trucks because they deliver essential goods, tight rules being imposed mean a great deal of disruption. They may also add a cost on those transporting goods.
