ZIMRA has already signed a deal to bring in drones for border surveillance in Zimbabwe; the authority’s Vice-Board Chairperson Josephine Matambo says.
This comes at a time when the country is supposedly losing US$1 billion in revenue a year due to smuggling at border posts.
Matambo says, ” The supplier for the drones has been selected, contract signed and implementation is underway.”
“These drones will go a long way in curbing smuggling thus increasing revenue to the nation.”
Besides drones for border surveillance, ZIMRA is progressing with the Dry Ports Project with the main objective to decongest the borders.
“Dry Ports are going to be constructed in phases starting with Makuti Dry
Port which will decongest Beitbridge, Forbes and Chirundu border posts,” Matambo says.“The Makuti Dry Port Project is now at design stage.”
Dry ports will be constructed in Mutare, Bulawayo, and Masvingo, after Makuti’s.
ZIMRA is also still negotiating with a bidder on a new Domestic Taxes IT system to facilitate easy submission of tax returns, easy access to the ZIMRA portal, easy interaction between ZIMRA and the client, and overall, contribute to the national strategy of making it easy to do business in Zimbabwe.
The move will also enable ZIMRA to be in a strategic position to receive and analyze revenue-related data to the benefit of the nation
