Zimra clears congestion at Beitbridge

Friday, 13 May 2011 22:22

Beitbridge Border Post Beitbridge Bureau Chief CONGESTION at Beitbridge Border Post has eased after the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority deployed more officers to clear cars being imported into the country. Few Zimra officers on vehicle clearance sections were failing to cope with the backlog in terms of duty calculations for second-hand vehicles imported from Asian countries, mainly Japan. Although the Government has hinted it intends to review the ban on the importation of vehicles more than five-years- old and those that are left-hand driven, dealers in mainly old Japanese cars and individuals are rushing to beat the initial June 30 deadline. MORE Used imported vehicles congest Beitbridge In separate interviews here yesterday, many car importers said they were now spending at least 24 hours to get the whole clearance process completed. "We are happy things are moving in the right direction and hope that they will remain like this. "This time I managed to get my car cleared within 24 hours unlike the previous experiences where I would spend three days to know how much I should pay as excise duty," said Mr Tapiwa Mukarakate of Mutare. A Zimra source said more personnel had been deployed to handle the car clearances. "More guys have been deployed and the situation has normalised," said an official who refused to be named. The Shipping and Forwarding Agents Association of Zimbabwe also expressed satisfaction with the improvement in the vehicle clearance process. In an interview yesterday, Mr Semion Mudau who is SFAAZ Beitbridge chairperson, said some of the challenges were being worsened by car dealers who took long to deliver vehicles to Beitbridge. "We have noted an influx with regards to used car imports from Asia, but the main challenges are being caused by transporters who advise people to come to Beitbrige before the cars arrive. "You will realise that some people spend three days in Beitbridge waiting for their cars to be delivered and then spend a day for them to get cleared by Zimra. "We are urging the importers to address this situation because it is very costly, especially on the car importers part. Some of the challenges people are facing stem from disagreements with Zimra in terms of valuations for their cars. "At times people import cars without money to pay for customs duty and in turn put pressure on our parking space. We have been consulting with Zimra and they will soon dispose of all those cars that spend more than two months in our yard without being cleared in line with Cus-toms and Excise instruments." Mr Mudau said. He said they had installed a 70 KVA generator at Manica warehouse that will see Zimra doing car clearances under one roof from 6am to 10 pm. At the moment, car dealers have the challenge of shuttling between Manica warehouse and the border post to get their vehicles cleared.