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Abel Zhakata Mutare Bureau
Government must urgently expand Forbes Border Post to be able to handle increased cargo coming in from Beira, Mozambique.

In an interview after touring the border post last Friday, chairperson of the Shipping and Forwarding Agents Association of Zimbabwe Mrs Sheilla Mashiri said Forbes Border lacked capacity to handle growing exports and imports.

She said this had resulted in serious congestion.

“From the look of things, Forbes Border Post does not have the capacity to handle cargo that is coming through,” she said.

“This impacts badly on the ease of doing business because more time is spent ‘waiting’. Even if the ZIMRA guys have done their part in clearing consignment papers, the hindered flow of traffic is creating a bottleneck.”

SFAAZ toured the border together with ZIMRA, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe officials and captains of industry to assess avenues that might be exploited to ensure ease of doing business and promote trade.

Mrs Mashiri said the congestion at the border post presented dangers to the public.

“We toured the exit side appreciating how exports are handled from the Zimbabwean perspective into Mozambique. We realised that there is a bottleneck regarding trucks that are going into Mozambique because they can only get the right of passage if Mozambican papers are done.

“This is creating a long queue on the Zimbabwean side, resulting in congestion. You can also see that trucks carrying dry cargo are queuing in the same line with trucks carrying dangerous and explosive liquids,” she said.

“There should be a demarcation to separate them but there is no space to do so at Forbes. The space is limited. At the end of the day we create dangerous situations at the border.

“The paper work is being done smoothly but what we need is the expansion of the border post. The predicament is that the border post is located in between two gullies and there is no room to expand it either side. The only option is to expand it by backtracking inland where there are acres of space,” she said.

In the interim, said Mrs Mashiri, ZIMRA must partner with a truck parking facility in the city to hold haulage trucks before clearance.

“Export trucks must be held at that truck park without them necessarily queuing in the manner they are currently doing at the border. The picture that is being shown at the border gives a wrong impression that ZIMRA is delaying the process yet that is not the case.

“The space is limited. Trucks should be held somewhere and only come to the border to pass through,” she said.

SFAAZ also registered its displeasure with the welfare of its members at the border who are working from makeshift structures following demolition of their offices a month ago to pave way for the ongoing dualisation of the road that connects to the border post.

Mrs Mashiri described the situation as pathetic.

“Our members were displaced and are now of no fixed abode. This is a cause for concern regarding even the security of goods that are coming into the country,” she said.

“The presence of an agent at the border improves the ease of doing business because the time taken to do transactions is reduced.

“A total of 352 agents were affected by the displacements and with increased inflows from the Beira Port moré problems have been created. We have to find an amicable solution and ensure that trade continues smoothly.

“We wish that our members be allocated a block, like what has been done at other border posts like Chirundu, where they can erect permanent structures than to have temporary shelter.

“We need a permanent solution to the problem and ensure that agents are allocated land to put up own structures. This is common in the region. If you go to South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania, it is the same thing,” she said.