Kasumbalesa border ops smooth - ZRA
GOVERNMENT has not been losing revenue to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at Kasumbalesa border as speculated by some sections of society, the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has clarified.
According to the ZRA, a good working relationship exists between the Zambian and Congolese authorities to avoid congestion and allow smooth flow of traffic.
ZRA Commissioner Customs Services, Sydney Chibbabbuka, noted that there had been misinformation in the country concerning the revenue collected at Kasumbalesa border.
He explained that ZRA did not collect revenue or taxes from transit consignments.
Mr Chibbabbuka was speaking when he toured the Kasumbalesa border post to appreciate certain projects.
“There is no revenue lost on transits and exports because we do not collect tax from them. The only thing we do is facilitating trade between the two countries,” he added.
Mr Chibbabbuka said that Zambia had embraced the coordinated border management for successful execution of border duties.
And ZRA Kasumbalesa Senior Manager, Malama Chiwama, expressed confidence that the measures that were put in place were helping with the smooth flow of traffic at the border.
Mr Chiwama said that there were a lot of trucks that were marooned at the border especially those that were headed to the DRC due to certain procedures and the size of the road.
“The Congo bound trucks had so many procedures to go through and our yard could not hold many trucks hence having had congestion.
“We also only had two lanes of the road getting into Congo but I can now confirm that we have created the third one to allow traffic flow,” he explained.
He said that the Zambian side made an agreement with their Congolese counterparts to have certain procedures carried out on the Zambian side so that trucks were not taking long to be cleared.