Pilot of paperless port systems kicks off today

Effective Friday, August 18th 2017, all agencies at the country’s ports will pilot the paperless clearing process ahead of official takeoff next month.

The exercise is among others to identify the potential shortfalls and address them for a seamless transaction on September 1, 2017.

According to officials, the pilot has become apparent considering the completion of the basic background work.

The Deputy Commissioner of Customs at the Tema Port, Richard Yawtse who confirmed the pilot to Citi Business News said it will help in improving the system.

“The object of the pilot is to see how the preparations are going to go, the coordination between the institutions, the flow of documents and then to discover any challenges that probably we may not have considered already. And then to see how we will resolve them before the first of September when we go live.”

“On Friday we have selected a number of companies for the pilot on the side of the agents they have selected a number. On the side of terminal operators we have selected a number and we begin the pilot at Tema and possibly Takoradi; so this is what the pilot is about,” he added.

The move to start a paperless regime at the ports follows a directive from the Vice President in May this year.

According to the Vice President, this will curb corruption and reduce the turnaround time for businesses.

Meanwhile the Deputy Commissioner says the outfit will continue with education to ensure all agencies are conversant with the systems.

“The discussions have not ended. We are still in discussions with all our stake holders and we are continuing the education. But you can imagine that by 1^st of September, you would have discovered serious challenges or issues that we have overlooked or haven’t come to our attention yet.”

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana