Mombasa to Get A Free Trade Zone For Motor Vehicles

The city of Mombasa on Kenya’s coast is set to get a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) on motor vehicles this year. Mombasa is currently hosting
about thirty eight Export Processing Zones.

It is anticipated that the new policy will create thousands of jobs for
local traders and service providers.

With Mombasa having a Free Trade Zone, the city will have a gateway in which
goods on transit can be temporarily warehoused to avoid customs regulations and
administrative procedures. The act of transshipment will be of service to
neighbouring countries like Uganda, Malawi and others.

The Free Trade Zone will allow imported vehicles to initially be received
and sorted in Mombasa prior to their journey to other markets.

The establishment will be introduced to Kenya almost four years after the
Cabinet gave a nod to the plan.

Mombasa’s 1,000-acre re-export gateway is to initially handle 100,000
vehicles per year, reported Henry Rotich, Treasury Secretary.

It is expected that the state-owned Free Trade Zone facility will become one
of the flagship projects that the Kenyan government hopes will raise its 2018
export earnings.

The government is targeting earnings to double from 10% to 20% annually by
2022.

“We intend to strengthen trade facilitation programme,” Mr Rotich added in
his Budget Policy Statement.

The plan for the Free Trade Zone is to aid the landlocked states in the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).