Eldoret International Airport has resumed cargo flights and business after two months of protest by small traders following the new government tax policy to compute taxes per unit, a shift from a pool where they were levied per kilogramme.
The traders operating under the Kenya Association of International Cargo Consolidators (KAICC) have come into an agreement with the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and individual importers will now have to pay taxes for each item shipped into the country through the facility.
In a meeting attended by various stakeholders in the freight industry and attended by Cabinet Secretaries Kipchumba Murkomen (Roads, Transport and Public Works) and Moses Kuria (Trade and Industry), the traders resolved to abide by new government regulations that will increase the cost of consolidated cargo.
Mr Murkomen termed the suspension of operations by the consolidators as unfortunate noting that the government has put in place structures to ensure that there was ample period before implementation of such taxes.
“The suspension of cargo flights for such a period amounts to heavy losses in terms of revenue and it might take about six months to recover,” said Mr Murkomen.
“Suspension of flights has seen an 83 percent reduction in cargo and has come at a cost, including penalties from airlines due to termination of long-term contracts. Furthermore, it became challenging for consolidators to secure flights when services resumed, as many flights had been rerouted to different regions,” said Abdirahman Bashir, KAICC, Secretary General.
Mr Murkomen disclosed that the expansion of the runaway by 600 metres, from the current 3.5 kilometres to 4.1 kilometres to accommodate bigger cargo flights is expected to be completed by this December.
“We also need to purchase extra land,” said Mr Murkomen.
