Border agencies trimmed to six, government to start piloting project in 2024

Government has set an agenda to reduce border agencies to about six in an effort to ensure smooth trade facilitation with Chirundu and Kazungula One Stop Border Posts (OSBP).

The two border facilities have been picked as pilots for this exercise, with operation expected to start in 2024.

Depending on the border post, some currently have between seventeen and 21 agencies.

Commerce, Trade and Industry-Director Foreign Trade, Simon Ng’ona, explained that the functions for the affected agencies would be mainstreamed with the ones with physical presence at the borders.

Ng’ona shared the development with journalists in Chipata on the side-lines of the Zambia Border Posts Upgrading Project (ZBPUP) on Wednesday.

He clarified that the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA), immigration department, Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency (ZCSA), Ministry of Livestock, Ministry of Agriculture and Port Health would maintain their physical presence at the borders.

He indicated that agencies moving away from the borders had signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with those that would remain at the border to ensure their functions remained operational.

“The pilot project is underway, we are still navigating through the legal dimensions around issues of border agencies moving out of the border and also delegating their functions.

“They need to do what is called border agencies MoUs and these MoUs have to be cleared by justice, so we have initiated that particular process and Justice Ministry to clear those particular MoUs and we hope that fully come 2024, we shall operationalize the pilot,” Ng’ona said.

He said that once successful, the pilot would be replicated to other borders.

Ng’ona emphasised that the principle behind this project was to create non-stop border posts.

“What will be happening is that where there is critical issue which requires their actual presence at the border that does not stop them to be at the border.

“We are trying to thin the borders so that private sector are able to do their business in a smooth and coherent manner, but of course not at the expense of government revenue and also undermining risks associated with imports and exports,” he concluded.

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