TANZANIA Revenue Authority (TRA) on Monday launched the Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS), a move that will efficiently curb dumping of transit goods into the local market.

TRA Commissioner General Harry Kitilya told reporters in Dar es Salaam that, "Dumping remains one of the critical problems subjecting the country to losses amounting to billions of shillings, but we expect the new technology to curb the malpractice by 100 per cent."

Statistics show that the country loses over 25bn/- monthly due to fuel adulteration, dumping and compensations of lost transit cargo. Mr Kitilya told the meeting attended also by officials from Tanzania Truck Owners Association (TATOA), customs and Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) that all check points with corrupt practices in various routes to the neighboring countries will be removed, increasing cargo turnaround.

The aim of introducing the latest technology is to ensure that the documents wait for the cargo and not the vice versa. "This is one of the government efforts to remove non tariff barriers and cut down costs of doing business in Tanzania," he added.

Mr Kitilya appealed to stakeholders to provide necessary cooperation to ensure the technology works efficiently especially at its initial stages.

"There might be problems with the technology application in the initial stages but stakeholders support would be direly needed," he said. He said electronic tracking systems could be the most effective and relatively less costly option and one of the key strategies to be adopted by both public and private institutions in efforts to reduce loss as well as unnecessary expenditures.

The TRA Deputy Commissioner, Customs Modernisation and Risk Management Mr Bellium Silaa said the electronic sealing wire to be inserted in every truck carrying transit cargo prevents any attempt at opening, bypassing, or tampering with the Electronic Seal.

He said the system detects any such attempt, records the event and sends an alert to be received in the central data base system at TRA. It will monitor the movement of goods under custom control up to the point of exit in the boarders. With the technology, he said it will be possible to track down and even arrest truck drivers who tamper with cargos, reducing complaints of loss or fuel adulteration from the cargo owners in the neighboring countries.

The project operates under self-financing arrangement where the tax agency shall acquire the ECTS software and cover communications costs while transporters acquire electronic seals and related equipment from approved hardware suppliers by purchase or leasing.

The tax agency has given transporters three months from Monday to acquire the gadgets and then it will be compulsory to adopt it