By BUUMBA CHIMBULU in Nakonde
THE Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has in the first half of 2023 collected over K3.8 million from the Nakonde One-Stop-Border-Post, owing to increased volumes of cargo being cleared on a daily basis.
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This is an increase from the K2.1 million that was collected during the same period in 2022.
According to Nakonde border ZRA Senior Customs Collector, Chindongwe Chimuka, K3, 843.017 revenue was collected from the border post as compared to the K2, 190.094 collected during the same period last year.
He attributed the increase in revenue to improved trade volumes as the border was currently clearing between 750 and 800 trucks carrying goods per day.
Speaking during a during a Zambia Border Posts Upgrading Project (ZBPUP) media monitoring meeting on Wednesday, Mr Chimuka said the border recorded an increase in cleared cargo volumes.
“Volumes of trade going through Dar-es-Salaam have actually gone up. If you go back two or three years ago, you will notice that the highest volumes of trade and import were coming in through Chirundu, followed by Nakonde then Kazungula, it has now flipped. Nakonde is now highest followed by Kazungula and Chirundu is third. When you look at the manpower that we have, it has actually gone down. So volumes have gone up while staffing has gone down so it means there is more work for our officers which then impact on efficiency.
“When you look at revenue targets across the country, Nakonde has the highest revenue target because of the increased volumes. This has to do with COVID-19 because there were quite a lot of goods that had been imported and a lot of shipments that were destined for Africa and Zambia that did not move during that period so when the world opened up again, they started coming,” he said.
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