Martin Muleya

CHIPINGE TIMES REPORTER

MUTARE – The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) has called for the upgrading of Forbes Border Post linking Zimbabwe and Mozambique in order to reduce long vehicle queues and bypassing of the border by other drivers.

The border clears an average of 300 trucks a day and it is the entry point for all goods coming into the country through Beira Port in Mozambique. The most common goods that passes through Forbes are fuel and other consignments.

ZIMRA Commissioner (Customs and Excise) Batsirai Chadzingwa noted that vehicles are queuing at Forbes for days and sometimes weeks because the post is no longer coping with volumes of traffic.  Some vehicles eventually bypass the border and use illegal crossing points, arriving in Harare with thousands of litres of fuel whose duty is not paid,” said Chadzingwa.

He said it was scary that a lot of fuel was not paying duty at the border.

Chadzingwa said this when he addressed a gathering at a local Mutare Hotel to mark the International Customs and Excise Day.

“It is scary, the number of illegal crossing points we identified at Forbes. We hear that some fuel trucks by-pass the border and use the Cashel Valley Route from Mozambique and get into Harare with duty free fuel. There is really need to upgrade the post so that we plug those leakages and avoid loss of revenue to the country,” he said.

The Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Clemence Chiduwa, concurred and said the volumes of goods passing through Forbes can be compared to Beitbridge and Plumtree Border Posts.

“As one comes in from Mozambique, we are looking at increasing the number of lanes; like multi-lane instead of a single lane that we have at the moment. We also need to expand the parking space,” said Chiduwa.