As part of government’s commitment to formalise the economy, Vice President Dr Alhaji Mahumudu Bawumia has outlined a policy initiative which will be undertaken by government to help improve efficiency at the country’s ports.

According to Dr Bawumia, the inefficiencies and man-made bottlenecks have a direct bearing on revenue collection and encourage collusion among importers, clearing agents and customs officials to exploit the system.

He explained that the reforms would help reduce the cost of doing business as far as the private sector is concerned, especially at the level of the port.

Speaking at a one-day port conference in Accra on the theme “Improving Port Efficiency and Trade Facilitation in Ghana” on Wednesday 17 May, Dr Bawumia said the three major policy interventions will ensure efficiency at the country’s ports to enable it compete effectively with other ports in the sub-region and generate the adequate revenue to support the developmental agenda of the government.

He said: “From September 1st, we will want to see mandatory joint inspections and examinations of containers at the port.

“Secondly, from September 1st, Ghana is going 100 per cent paperless at the ports to bring about efficiency...

“The third policy reform that we are implementing is to do with the transit corridor and the barriers that are there that inhibit or delay or extort as far as transit trade is concerned. We want to, from September 1st, eliminate all internal custom barriers and it will really change Ghana’s competitiveness in the sub-region.”