The 41st meeting of the COMESA Council of Ministers conducted via Video Conferencing from 26th to 27th November 2020 directed speedy digitalisation of trade instruments which include electronic trade (e-trade), e-logistics and e-legislation under the COMESA Digital Free Trade Area initiative. The Council urged Member States to enhance investments in internet infrastructure and penetration to promote online supply of services and reduce costs of communication-mobile, internet and financial services to increase/expand the benefits of digital technology.

The Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA), in collaboration with TradeMark East Africa (TMEA), is upgrading the Northern Corridor Transport Observatory toolkit to improve the efficiency in reporting. The expanded toolkit will include a data collection tool running on mobile devices and a data warehouse consisting of data storage and extract, transform, load (ETL) to blend data from multiple sources and a database for processed data.

According to the findings of the inspection of private facilities similar to the Roadside Stations (RSS) designs by a multi-agency team involving Public and Private sector Stakeholders in Kenya, most existing and ongoing projects for parking facilities along the Northern Corridor are either under private sector initiatives or County Governments.

The Northern and Central Corridors Member States’ population has been increasing annually with the year 2019 having a combined total population of approximately 277 million; an increase population growth rate of 3% when compared to the 2018 figure. The large population presents a massive trade and marketing opportunities that is projected to expand even further in the future.

The Roadside Stations programme presents an opportunity for investment in Trade and Transport Logistics aimed at improving Road safety as well as supporting cost effectiveness and reliability in the conveyance of freight and people along the Northern Corridor. The initiative had attracted the attention of both policy makers and private sector players.