WORKSHOP TO REVIEW & ADOPT TRANPORT POLICY COMMON GUIDELINES FOR NORTHERN CORRIDOR MEMBER STATES

The Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordination Authority (NTTCA) organized a 2days workshop to review and finalize draft Transport Policy Common Guidelines for its member States as well as develop an action Plan for the implementation of guidelines.

The meeting which brought together experts from all 5 member states (i.e. Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and DRC) was held at Mombasa Beach Hotel in Kenya. Each country was represented by 5 delegates with expertise in the fields of Road Transport, Rail Transport, In-land waterways Transport, Pipelines and Transport Safety & Security.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Philip Mwanthi Ag Executive Secretary of the NCTTCA welcomed all participants to the meeting and was particularly pleased by the participation of delegates from all member states of the corridor. He recalled the context in which this workshop was called: The 33rd Executive Board meeting had recommended NCTTCA secretariat to constitute Specialized Committees in the various modes of transport to review and finalize proposal on common Guidelines for member states of the Northern Corridor. He was therefore happy that the outcome of this workshop would lead to the realization of the board’s recommendation and to improving performance of the Northern Corridor.

During the plenary session, a committee to coordinate plenary sessions was elected with Rwanda taking on the chairmanship, Uganda for Vice Chairman, Burundi and DRC taking on the role of Rapporteur.

In the introductory plenary session three presentations were made by Mr. Patrick Kebela, Eng. Charles Sabiiti and Mr. Aloys Rusagara, staff of the NCTTCA secretariat. Their presentations focused on harmonization of Transport Policies with reference made to 2008 & 2009 documents, Infrastructure master plan and standard guidelines recommendation and Drafting common Guidelines on Transport Policy for the Northern Corridor Member States respectively.

Five groups were formed to thoroughly discuss and refine the draft Common guidelines as well as prepare an Implementation plan. The groups were composed along the following five themes;

1. Road Transport
2. Rail Transport
3. Inland Waterways
4. Oil Pipeline Transport
5. Transport Safety and Security

During the group work sessions, the experts reviewed the state of affairs prevailing in relations to each mode of transport, came up with specific objectives, strategic guidelines and recommendations which were then subjected to debate in a plenary session before being adapted.

Finally after deliberations that lasted 2days, the draft Common Guidelines on transport policy were amended and adopted.