Bawumia’s Paperless Port Achieving Results – GHPA

The Ghana Port and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has said the implementation of the paperless system at the ports by the Vice president, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is yielding great results.

According to the Authority revenue has been increased since the Paperless was introduced for both GPHA and GRA-Customs.

Esther Gyebi-Donkor, General Manager for Marketing and Corporate Affairs, GPHA made this known when the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism visited GPHA to ascertain how successful the paperless project has been since its commencement on September 1, 2018.

The visit was also to update committee members on issue surrounding the implementation of the project.

Madam Gyebi-Donkor said “Every year our traffic increases but I’m looking at the exponential increase between 2016 and 2017 and saying that probably this also has contributed to it”.

She said the achievements attained include substantial reduction in delays with regards to clients requesting for terminal charges, adding that the electronic process has ensured that customers only pay for services provided.

“Our clients go on that platform, make a request to take delivery of the containers and then our invoicing system automatically generates the invoice for them in their offices, wherever they are, without coming to the premises of GPHA”, she added.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee, Daniel Nii-Kwartei Titus-Glover in his remarks expressed joy that the paperless port system was achieving results.

He urged the operators of the system to expedite implementation strategies and training programs in order to contribute their best to the smooth running of the system.

“With this system, in place, you know that we are taking the human intervention as much from it. For now, we say, it is okay but there are a lot of things that we need to improve upon”, he said.

The MP for Tema East and the Deputy Minister for Transport, Daniel Nii-Kwartei Titus-Glover urged shippers to be sincere in their dealings to assist the operators in the port to execute the system well.

“It is our duty to make sure that we support government in the payment of taxes to provide the service that we want him to do for us,” he stated.

Mr. Titus-Glover said he is impressed with the collaboration that has ensued between the stakeholders, adding that the future is bright to get perfect the system.

The Vice President’s paperless agenda is an ongoing government policy initiative which seeks to integrate all the systems at the port for efficient trade.