Business Operating Permit payments go electronic

The Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly will from next year accept only electronic payments for Business Operating Permits (BOPs).

This will, therefore, remove the human interface of manual payment and ensure that businesses and profit-making entities within its jurisdiction make the payments either through the banks, issuing cheques, visa cards or mobile App, whereupon payment they would be issued an electronic receipt.

“We are looking at BOPs for hotels, filling stations, temporary structures, companies, all manner of businesses making profit, banks and financial institutions. 

They are all supposed to pay BOP either through the banks, mobile, or a cheque. Physical cash will not be accepted,” the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the assembly, Samuel James Nii Adjei Tawiah, explained.

He was speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra last Friday.

About BOPs

BOPs are permits given by local assemblies that enable businesses or profit-making ventures to operate within their space.

Renewable annually, the BOPs serve as revenue earners for assemblies, meaning the more businesses operating in the locality, the more revenue the authorities can raise.

Revenue mobilisation

Mr Tawiah explained that the decision to go cashless was in line with the position of the assembly to use information and communication technology (ICT) to drive revenue mobilisation.

He said there was a homegrown revenue management software that would ensure compliance with the electronic payment.

The MCE said the assembly had already collected data on all businesses and properties within the municipality, in addition to their contact numbers, which had been entered into their data system.

As a result, he explained, starting next month, December 2024, the assembly would send the bills electronically to them either through SMS messages or an email for them to go and make the payments.

Additionally, he said, to ensure a smooth take-off, their revenue collectors and supervisors had been trained on this new revenue software of the assembly as well as volunteers who would go around to assist clients to fill the forms on their phones and feed them into the assembly’s system.

“We've captured a substantial number, but it's still ongoing. We know we have businesses exiting and new businesses coming up. So, we have to update all the time. It is a process,” he stated.

   
Revenue increase

Mr Tawiah said the cashless payment regime of the assembly started this year with Property Tax and Building Permit and already they had seen a tremendous increase in revenue as a result.

“Last year October, we mobilised GH¢10.24 million. If you compare it to this year, we've mobilised GH¢19.15 million. So you see the gains, very massive,” he said, ascribing the reason to the decision to eliminate all the practices and the quality infractions and the innovation introduced.

Mr Tawiah said the municipality set a target to mobilise GH¢23 million for this year, which it had already achieved as of this month.