The controversial sh700 port parking fees imposed on each truck entering the Port of Mombasa by the Mombasa County government have been dropped.

Governor Abdulswamad Nassir said yesterday the county shelved it due to strong opposition by road hauliers who had threatened to paralyse services at the port.

He said that after a long conversation with the industry stakeholders, the county agreed to come up with a new modality of raising revenue from the port of business.

“Yes, it is true I met top officials of organisations working in Mombasa to port the parking fees. We are working on modalities on how to make sure this issue is worked out properly for the benefit of Mombasa people,” said Nassir.

In a notice, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) informed the truck owners that the county had introduced a Sh700 daily parking fee for all commercial trucks entering the port.

The county government has designated KPA as the facilitator in the collection of the fees from trucks going to the port of Mombasa.

Although Nassir suspended the parking fee, he has doubled down on his quest to charge at least Sh513 per container offloaded at the Port of Mombasa.

In the meeting, the stakeholders proposed that each container imported will be charged sh 513 per Twenty Equivalent Units (TEU) and those for export sh 262.

A TEU is the standard measurement of a container. “Above will be incorporated under KPA invoicing as a county levy. A formal detailed notice on the same will be shared soon,” states an agreement seen by the Standard.

Yesterday, Kenya Transport Association chairman Newton Wangoo said all stakeholders in the port agreed that owners of the cargo are the ones to bear the cost of the charges for each container entering Mombasa port.

“As stakeholders, we signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the county government that the Kenya Ports Authority should collect the amount in question on behalf of the county government,” said Wangoo.

Wangoo insisted that the levy in question had existed and said those who were collecting the amount were the cause of the problems which brought protest.

He claimed the county government enforcement officers at KPA gates have been the source of trouble, as some money was being collected and not being remitted to the county.

Wangoo explained that since there was corruption and other activities surrounding the collection, it was agreed that KPA should collect the amount on behalf of the county and later remit it to it.

He said it was also agreed that truck drivers will no longer be asked to pay any levy while entering the port, as it will be upon KPA to collect the levy and remit it to the county government.

During the meeting it was agreed that the fee for empty and export containers will be sh2 per TEU container.

He said even the loose cargo arriving in the port will be paid per the tonnage, while ships docking at the port will also be levied.

Among the things agreed upon is that the county government enforcement officer will be removed from the port and its environment so that they could be deployed to other areas.

Following the agreement, the stakeholders hoped there would be no truck delays at the KPA gate over the payment of the controversial parking fees.

The stakeholders said the past corruption among those who were collecting the revenue on behalf of the county will not be there, as their deals when there was a long line before entering the port were sealed after KPA agreed to collect the proposed amount from the importers.

Following the signing of the MOU, it was agreed that the county government will give the stakeholder a notice when the new collection will start.

Last month the decision of KPA to start collecting the parking fees on behalf of the county government sparked anger among truck owners.

Road Hauliers Association chairman Paul Moiben early February stopped his members from evacuating the container from the port to Container Freight Stations.

He protested that KPA and the county government were exploiting the truck owners without considering that there are more taxes the members are being charged.

Moiben said the Sh 23,200 Transit Goods License levy the national government was charging for every truck per year was not needed for another levy.