Single Window Project speeds up port processes
The Ghana National Single Window Project has reduced the bureaucratic processes associated with trading at the country’s various ports.
Advertisement
The project, which kicked off in September last year, has been able to reduce the time involved in acquiring a Customs Classification and Valuation Report (CCVR) from two weeks to less than 48 hours.
The Chief Revenue Officer of the Customs Technical Services Bureau (CTSB) of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr Aweya Julius Kantum, told journalists after a tour of the four-storey modern facility of the CSTB that the project had been able to speed up processes and within the next three years, the target was to achieve better, faster and less-cost trading across borders by 50 per cent.
“Now you can get your CCVR within 48 hours and in some cases within an hour. That is a substantial improvement of the old processes where it could take someone up to two weeks to get a classification report,” he said.
Compliance is key
According to him, some traders had raised concerns about delays in obtaining their CCVRs but he explained that some experienced delays because they did not comply with the requirements needed to speed up the processes.
“We are talking about compliance here, if you falsify your documents and you send fictitious documents to us, if you do not provide accurate documentation then it will take much longer. The key thing is compliance. It is not that you can submit anything and expect us to churn it out in 48 hours, the essence is to help the complaint trader get his or her documentations on time and not the non-compliant trader,” he said.
IMF Delegation
An eight-member delegation from the International Monetary Fund(IMF) led by its Mission Chief, Mr Joel Toujas Bernate, on April 30, 2016, toured the Customs Technical Service Bureau Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to familiarise themselves with its operations.
They were ushered round the facility by Mr Kantum. The facility has about 150 officers engaged in document verification, classification, valuation, risk management, quality assurance and other processes geared towards achieving a national single window.
