The Director General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Brigadier General Paul Seidu Tanye-Kulono, Customs Division to permit intrusive inspections at inland container depots.

Brigadier General Tanye-Kulono said the intermittent breakdowns of scanners at Meridian Port Services (MPS) had caused significant backlogs in container processing.

He added that “as a result, GPHA has had to coordinate with Customs to bypass the scanners, permitting them to conduct intrusive inspections at inland container depots.

The permission ends on 28 February and collaborating with Customs for an extension.”

He disclosed this when Mr. Joseph Bukari Nikpe, the Minister of Transport, paid a working visit to the GPHA, MPS, and the Tema Shipyard Limited.

Brigadier General Tanye-Kulono added that he had engaged the Commissioner of Customs and hopefully, the permission would be extended by another month for them to find a lasting solution to the scanner issue.

According to him, as part of the solutions, the GPHA intends to construct a road between terminals 3 and 2 to facilitate the quick transfer of the containers whilst advocating for a random scan on the containers instead of the 100 per cent scan.

Touching on other port issues, he said the committee of enquiry set up to look into reports on 11 trailers inside the Port of Tema went missing, and one unit reach stacker being auctioned in very good condition with a brand new engine and tyres, only for GPHA to rent the same, has presented an interim report which was being reviewed by the legal department.

He expressed worry at portions of access roads to Tema Port being in a deplorable state and needed to be fixed at GPHA’s cost, although the roads fall under the Urban Roads Department of the Ministry of Roads and Highways.

“The Engineering Department is in consultation with the Urban Roads Department for the right of way to enable GPHA to fix those portions of the roads.”