Campaign to address challenges at the ports underway
The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI) has initiated an advocacy campaign that seeks to help address challenges associated with doing business at the country’s ports.
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The campaign is expected to engage both policy makers and stakeholders that operate at the ports to develop a strategy to help improve efficiency and reduce the cost of doing business at the ports.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the chamber, Mr Mark Badu-Aboagye, in an interview with the Daily Graphic last Monday (August 14) in Accra, said following the challenges associated with doing business at the country’s ports, the chamber, together with its partners, had already begun an advocacy campaign to sensitise stakeholders in the industry.
“The reason behind this advocacy campaign is to improve efficiency and also reduce the multiplicity of taxes which is escalating the cost of doing business at the ports,” he said.
He noted that the GNCCI funding from the Business Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) had conducted a study on challenges associated with doing business at the country’s ports christened, ‘Situational Analyses of Tema and Takoradi Seaports and Kotoka International Airport.’
The study was aimed at evaluating the operational challenges and bottlenecks associated with doing business at the country’s ports.
Study findings
The study revealed that excessive fees and charges were adversely impeding the ease of doing business at the ports and the country as a whole, as importers for instance are expected to pay over four different charges, fees and taxes when using the ports in Ghana.
It also gives details on how official and unofficial charges are hampering smooth business operation and at the same time robbing the country of revenue as well as affecting trade volumes.
“Users of the ports were asked about money they usually pay. The figures obtained range between GH¢1 and GH¢650,000. These sums of money are paid to various entities – private and public – that are involved in the business of facilitating imports and exports. When asked to describe the fees, charges and taxes at the port, a little over one-third of the businesses surveyed indicated that they were too high” the study revealed.
This assessment of high cost of doing business at the port is confirmed by the results of the separate interviews with both state and private institutions.
The Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF) for example described the costs of doing business at Ghana’s ports as “too high and unbearable”.
For John Bitar, a freezone company engaged in the export of wood products, one of the major challenges facing it was the payment of port rent charges to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA).
The study, among other things, also identified duplication of functions by some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as one of the top challenges impeding ease of doing business at the ports.
Recommendation
The study recommended that the government must expand all three ports in the country as present facilities are overstretched, given the volumes of trade recorded in recent times.
It also recommended that more equipment such as cranes and forklift would be needed to reduce pressure on existing equipment. Expansion of the physical space will help address the perennial issue of congestion at the ports.
“However, trade has expanded over the last few years beyond the physical space of the ports. The three main ports studied under this report are all undergoing serious expansion works.
“It is obvious that the ports in Ghana need expansion both in terms of facilities and physical space available for port expansion. Currently, all the three ports are undergoing expansion works. The expectation is that the expansion will address the costly congestions at the ports,” the study suggested.
