Parliamentary Committee lauds GCNet’s paperless initiative preparedness

Some members of the Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism from Parliament led by the Chair, Nana Amaniampong Marfo have paid a working visit to GCNet.

The working visit was to ascertain the state of preparedness of GCNet for the commencement of the paperless initiative from September 1, 2017.

It was also to know the possible challenges GCNet faced and how the Committee could intervene to ensure that the Vice President’s reforms at the port are achieved.

In a presentation to the members of the Select Committee, Product Development Manager, Mr. Carl Sackey explained that GCNet’s systems had been designed to support a paperless regime since 2002.

He assured the visiting Parliamentary delegation that following the directive by the Vice President, GCNet had developed enhancements to the electronic delivery order and online container booking platforms of its systems.

He added that all systems were being configured to eliminate all forms of paper processing in the clearance chain.

He also announced that GCNet had started a pilot paperless operation from August 1 in Takoradi and intended scaling it up to Tema to test the readiness of the e-applications configured for the September 1, deadline, and that enforcement was the key to the success of the paperless initiative since the infrastructure had already been deployed.

Mr. Sackey told the members of the Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism that GCNet as part of tracking performance of its systems, had deployed an information text code – 1477 to all networks with the declaration number – an SMS alert system that helps track the status of the clearance process by a customer.

Deputy General Manager, Mr. Emmanuel Darko, thanked the delegation for the visit and expressed the hope that the knowledge gathered about the operations of GCNet would positively influence policy decisions in improving the business competitiveness of the country.

Chair of the Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism, Nana Amaniampong Marfo expressed his satisfaction about the measures put in place by GCNet to meet the deadline for the execution of the port reforms announced at the May 17 Port Efficiency Conference in Accra.

The members of the Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism were taken on a guided tour of the Networking Operating Centre and some offices of GCNet by the Chief Technical Officer, Mr. Matthew Soputamit.