EAC to improve infrastructure at borders
2 February 2011
The East African Community (EAC) is seeking to cut the cost of doing business in the region by forty per cent.
A $300 million (£187 million) project will improve transport infrastructure and border management in the area, Business Daily reports.
Nairobi-based TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) will carry out the scheme, which will also see ports, weighbridges and customs departments automated.
"[Some] 60 per cent of this budget will be invested in improving infrastructure to help the region ... with flourishing trade and reducing poverty," said TMEA's chief executive officer Frank Matsaert.
The cost of intra-regional transactions is expected to fall by at least 30 per cent thanks to improved efficiency, the news provider quoted officials as saying.
Enhanced competence is one of the major programme objectives of TMEA, which could lead to better ICT infrastructure.
The EAC is made up of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, and the organisation is trying to foster greater regional cooperation for the future.