By BRIAN HATYOKA –

GOVERNMENT has been urged to harmonise the operations of various regulatory agencies in border posts to accelerate the process of clearing goods.
Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) president Bright Chunga said there is need to harmonise the operations of regulatory agencies in border areas to avoid delaying the movement of cargo.
Dr Chunga was speaking in Livingstone after attending the just ended three-day high-Level follow-up meeting to the Second United Nations (UN) Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) held at Chrismar Hotel.
He noted that most cargo drivers had to spend many days on the road before reaching their destinations, which ultimately pushed up the cost of doing business.
“There are 11 regulatory agencies at the borders and these include Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS), Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Police, Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) and the Veterinary Officers among others which don’t coordinate their operations.
“The Government needs to harmonise these regulatory agencies so that there is a quicker movement of goods,” he said.
Dr Chunga said there were many different agreed conventions which were also inconveniencing transporters.
“For example, a colleague working as a driver was stopped at a certain check point because he was not wearing shoes.
“One weigh bridge allows a truck to carry 30 tonnes of cargo, while another allow trucks to carry 40 tonnes of cargo,” he said.
He also wondered why Kafue Weigh Bridge has a long queue of trucks at times when the bridge was intended to make traffic move quicker and well regulated.
“At the end of the day, a transporter spends four days at Kazungula and three days at Kafue as well as three days in Kapiri Mposhi coupled with several roadblocks along the way.
“One ends up spending the whole week doing nothing on the road. This is pushing up the cost of doing business in Zambia,” he said.