According to the president of ATROMA, António Gavião Neto, the directive of the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT), which establishes a system of fees and charges applicable to services provided by the Angolan State in this activity, on the borders with the DR Congo, from July 1st, is the result of complaints from the association.
"We have seen the payment of customs fees outside of what is agreed between the States [of Angola and DR Congo], which unfortunately resulted in illegal fees being charged to road hauliers and constituted the practice of applying non-tax barriers by the DR Congo", Gavião Neto told Lusa this Wednesday.
The businessman from the road sector said that ATROMA's complaints, in relation to the "abusive" customs fees charged to Angolan hauliers, who entered the DR Congo heading for the province of Cabinda, had raised awareness among the Angolan authorities.
Angolan authorities, he continued, understood that there should be "reciprocal customs duties" between the two states so that things would be harmonized, in accordance with the not very friendly practice of the DR Congo government.
In a statement, ANTT said that the measure is the result of the approval of a presidential decree in July 2024, which establishes the legal framework for the collection of fees and charges in the context of cross-border transport with the DR Congo, supplemented by a joint executive decree in April 2025.
The new regime applies to all operators of cross-border road transport of passengers and goods that circulate in national territory, regardless of whether they are in transit or have the Democratic Republic of the Congo as their final destination, the document reads.
Given the geographical discontinuity of the province of Cabinda, a large part of the main consumer products for that province are transported by trucks that cross the border with the DR Congo to reach that northern region of Angola.
Angolan truck drivers reported having paid 4000 dollars at the DR Congo customs post, compared to 100 dollars for their Congolese colleagues at the Angolan border, according to previous reports by ATROMA, which called for a strike in 2024 to protest against this situation.
The joint decree by the Ministries of Finance and Transport and Public Works, Urbanism and Housing, published last April, determines that the fees and charges to be levied on cross-border road transport with the DR Congo will vary between 200 dollars and 3000 dollars.
António Gavião Neto considered that the new fees will also strengthen the capacity of the national treasury, "because the Angolan State was losing significant amounts of money in the order of millions of dollars every year", and "soften" the treasury of transport companies.
According to the presidential decree of July 2024, consulted this Wednesday by Lusa, 40 percent of the revenue collected in this way will go to the National Treasury and the remainder to the entity responsible for the services provided, with 10 percent of this amount being used to subsidize Angolan operators.
