Government to decongest ports

Government has expressed great concern about the severity of congestion at the country’s ports, particularly Tema, and the arbitrary increase in FOB as well as Freight values by Destination Inspection Companies (DICs).

The situation at the ports is a result of delays in the issuance of Final Classification and Verification Reports (FCVRs), Colecraft Jude Sam, Assistant Commercial Officer of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, has observed.

The government has therefore enumerated some measures to swiftly mitigate the challenges by strengthening the management and supervisory role of the Trade Ministry to ensure that the DICs perform to the maximum. The impending move will further tighten all potential sources for revenue leakage and enhance collection by Customs, he said.

The review of the scanner agreement remains high on the agenda of government to avert current delays at the scanning point. It may also be necessary to review the process for scanning to further speed-up clearance, Mr. Jude Sam revealed at import stakeholders’ workshop organised by Gateway Services Limited in Sunyani.

“One of the core policies of government is to ensure speedy and efficient clearance of goods, not only at our ports but also at our borders. Trade facilitation reform has been carried out in Ghana over the years due to its important benefits for development by way of trade stimulation, attraction of foreign direct investment, improvement in the collection of customs revenue, and reduction in incentives for smuggling and corruption with resultant reductions in transaction costs.

“It is against this backdrop that DICs were contracted to provide efficient verification, classification and valuation services for imports. This was done by the introduction of advanced technology in the form of non-intrusive cargo scanning, computerised risk management systems, and up-to-date transaction price databases capable of averting revenue losses to government,” he noted.

“Though records have it that the scheme has raised the bar in the import industry, especially in revenue mobilisation, reduction in clearance time, and introduction of state-of-the art equipment; but it has become necessary for further reforms at our ports to stand the test of time,” Mr. Jude Sam stressed.