Minister calls for effective auction sale at port

Tema, Jan. 03, GNA- Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning has called for an effective procedure for the auctioning of abandoned goods at the Tema port.

Mr Baah Wiredu made the call on Thursday at the Tema harbour during an emergency meeting with members of a committee set up by government to supervise the public auctioning of confiscated goods at the port. He said the need for proper procedure in the auctioning of un-cleared and confiscated goods at the port was important, and urged the committee members to work round the clock to formulate acceptable auctioning process in the shortest possible time.

The Finance Minister said by so doing, the country would harness more revenue, which would be channelled into infrastructural development among others.

He urged members of the committee to display a high sense of transparency in the performance of their duties while avoiding connivance with bidders.

Mr Baah Wiredu said his outfit would liaise with other Ministries to clear their goods in containers, which have been abandoned at the port for the past three to four years.

Mr Robert Kwame, Deputy Commissioner of CEPS in-charge of Operation on his part suggested that in order to decongest the state warehouses of over stayed goods, private terminals should be allowed to take custody of some containers.

Mr Kwame said the current monopoly of the Meridian Port Services (MPS) accounted for the congestion of the Golden Jubilee Terminal (GJT) as officials of MPS kept every container that arrived at the port at that terminal.

The GJT currently have 201 stuffed containers, 66 empty ones and 33 earmarked to be destroyed.