NTB reporting system to be commissioned today

 

 

To access the system, one will have to dial a USSB code; *201#. Upon dialing this code, eight categories of NTBs; weighbridges, standards inspect, customs, immigrations, Police road blocks, EAC Affairs, Business registration and license, plant and animal inspection appear on the complainant’s phone screen menu. 

 

Sam Watasa, the Lead Advisor of the National Response Strategy for the Elimination of NTBs Project says the system delivers complaints simultaneously depending on the complaint.  

 

“For example, if the complaint is about standards, it will be sent to the ministry and the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, if it is about customs, it will be registered by the ministry and the Uganda Revenue Authority,” he explains.

Stakeholders hope that the system will make it possible to report and respond to NTBs in real time. 

 

It is expected to lead to significant improvement in the way NTBs are reported, documented, monitored and resolved. 

“If you are a transporter, and your truck is stuck on the road because of any of these barriers, and you think it is not fair to you, send the information instantly.

 

Therefore, issues are going to be addressed in real time,” Silver Ojakol, the commissioner of external trade in the Ministry of trade said at a meeting organised by the Trade ministry and the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) to raise awareness of ongoing efforts to eliminate (NTBs) that affect transportation of cargo earlier this month.