TANZANIA Revenue Authority (TRA) has introduced online auction of uncleared cargo in order to increase efficiency.
TRA Commissioner General Dr Edwin Mhede made the revelation yesterday, noting that the home-grown auction system would take effect on January 2, next year, and the authority will run the auction.
He said the system would help to curb fraud by bidders and other dishonest TRA officials during the auction process.
“We have had several criticisms and corruption cases involving some of our officers in the auction process,” he said, adding that the old system led to poor auctioning of goods, forcing the revenue authority to incur high charges to run the exercise.
“We (TRA) are expecting to reap more from using the electronic system compared to the past as the system will enable higher sales and attract more bidders through fair competition,” explained Dr Mhede.
According to him, the system is also set to broaden the market scope by enlarging the audience.
The electronic auction will also enable the bidders to have enough timbid for the goods on offer before settling the 25 per cent.
Before embarking on using the electronic system, TRA suspended the auction system for a month due to several challenges that had been linked with he auctioning process, including corrupt dealings.
“Basing on the challenges, the authority decided to suspend the auction process for a month in order to ensure the challenges are tackled, in order to collect the government’s revenue through the online system,” he noted, saying that the cost for running the online auction process was expected to be low and thus increase efficiency.
The commissioner general said the authority also suspended the auction exercise to implement the E-government plan in running public institutions, departments and ministries.
Dr Mhede urged the public to use the online systems to buy goods on auction as the process was convenient and transparent.
