The inauguration of two multi-million dollar Atlantic Container Terminal at the Takoradi Port and a dry bulk jetty by President Akufo-Addo to improve maritime trade and position it as a major engine of economic growth dominates the headlines of Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that two multi-million dollar projects at the Takoradi Port — the Atlantic Container Terminal (ACT) and a dry bulk jetty — have been inaugurated, with an assurance by the government that it is determined to improve maritime trade and position it as a major engine of economic growth.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who gave the assurance when he inaugurated the projects yesterday, said the ongoing expansion and transformation at the port was testament to the overarching objective of expanding the country’s economy, while boosting regional and international trade.
Phase One of the container terminal was developed by an indigenous engineering firm, Ibistek Ghana Limited, at a cost of $250 million, while the dry bulk jetty was developed at a cost of $86 million by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) for the handling of manganese, clinker, bauxite and iron ore.
The President also cut the sod for the development of a floating dry dock facility for ship and rig repairs, to be developed by a private entity, Prime Meridian Docks Limited (PMD), as well as the development of an oil and gas services terminal being constructed at a cost of $98 million.
The ACT is expected to accommodate the increased demand in cargo transhipments and local deliveries through the port.
It has a holding capacity of 9,000 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs), with an extended quay wall of 600 metres and a draught (depth) of minus 16 metres below chart datum.
Besides, it is equipped with modern ship loaders and eco-hoppers for the safety of workers and other members of the port community.
The project marks the first time a wholly owned Ghanaian company has been involved in port development in the country.
The newspaper says that the move by the Minority Caucus in Parliament to remove the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, from office through a vote of censure was botched when the Majority members walked out of the Chamber minutes before a secret voting commenced.
The walkout came soon after the members of the House had debated on the House to adopt the report of the ad hoc committee on the motion of censure against the Finance Minister.
Soon after the debate, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, was blunt that his members would not be part of the political move by the Minority to cause the removal of the minister.
Supported by the Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Majority Leader used sanitiser to wash his hands off the censure motion and eventually led his members out of the Chamber.
The Ghanaian Times reports that Ghana is in talks with Emirates National Oil Co. for a barter arrangement that will enable it to buy fuel with gold.
The government reached a “tentative” agreement with the Dubai-based oil firm, said KabiruMahama, an economic adviser to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
Ghana, Africa’s second-largest gold producer, last week ordered large mining companies to sell 20 per cent of the metal they refine to the central bank from January 1 as it builds up reserves of bullion to be used to import fuel and reduce demand for dollars after its currency plunged 57 per cent this year.
“We’re open to any international oil-trading company that is interested,” Mahama said in a phone interview on Friday.
“Starting next October, all our oil-product needs would be swapped for gold.”
Ghana is struggling to stabilise its economy and sees the barter system as a way to stem a slide in the cedi — the world’s worst performer among currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
The weakening cedi is fuelling inflation and depleting the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves.
Meanwhile, the government, which lost access to international capital markets this year because of ballooning debt and loan-service costs, plans to ask international bondholders to accept losses on their investments to pave the way for an International Monetary Fund bailout.
ENOC didn’t immediately respond to an email and a phone message requesting comment. Dubai’s government, which owns ENOC, also didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Dubai has a long association with the gold trade. While critics say that regulatory loopholes allow bullion used for money laundering and smuggled out of war zones to be traded in the city, Dubai’s commodities exchange has rejected those claims.
Gold trading was brought into the United Arab Emirates’s federally managed anti-money laundering reporting system last year.
“ENOC is interested in giving us refined oil for gold,” Steve Opata, head of financial markets at the Bank of Ghana, said in an interview on Monday.
“Depending on what quantities they are committed to giving us, we will give them the equivalent in gold. This is a government-to-government programme.”
Ghana spends about $10 billion annually on imports, of which 48 per cent is spent on purchasing fuel.
The government expects bartering gold for refined crude will help it rebuild gross international reserves that fell to $6.7 billion at the end of October, enough to cover just 2.9 months of imports, from $10.8 billion a year earlier.
The newspaper says that the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, has called for continuous improvement and upgrade of the Customs Uni-Pass International Agency (CUPIA) of Korea, system being implemented at the country’s ports for revenue collection to make it robust and flexible to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness.
The system, he said, would help improve trade facilitation and aid the country to meet the changing dynamics of trade facilitation in the world.
The minister disclosed this when a six-member delegation from CUPIA visited him and his Deputy, Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, at the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat in Accra on Wednesday.
The delegation is in the country to see at first hand the operations of the Integrated Customs Management Union System (ICUMS) being run by Ghana Link, a trade facilitation company, at the country’s ports.
They were accompanied by the Executive Chairman of Ghana Link, Nick DansoAdjei and some senior staff members.
Ghana Link in July 2018 signed an agreement with CUPIA of South Korea to develop the Uni-Pass National Single Window End-to-end trade facilitation system known in Ghana as Integrated Customs Management System (ICUMS) for the clearing of goods in the various ports and borders of the country.
The CUPIA team had earlier visited the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Reverend Amishaddai Owusu-Amoah, and some senior officials of the Authority.
There was also were a six-member delegation from the Gambia Revenue Authority and Finance Ministry, who are in the country to study the country’s implementation of the Uni-Pass system.
Mr Kyerematen said one of the biggest challenge the country had with its trade facilitation system was the fragmented nature of the process of clearing goods with different services providers providing different service in the trade facilitation space.
“So in the 2017, the ruling government decided to review the entire trade facilitation regime and customs administration. It was clear to us that the different service providers working on different platforms did not augur well for efficiency in trade facilitation. So we took a decision to identify a globally advance and knowledge company to develop an end-to-end system to facilitate effective and efficient trade facilitation,” he said.
He said as was associated with every new system, there were some teething challenges with the implementation of the system but now had been resolved.
He mentioned some of the challenges as how to adapt the Uni-Pass system to the Ghanaian trade facilitation regime and the buy-in and appreciation of the system by the various stakeholders of the trade facilitation space.
“But, today, we are celebrating ICUMS. As political leaders, we were convinced the Uni-Pass/ICUMS would work,” he stated.
“There is more we can do and there is more to do to improve the ICUMS system,” he said.
The Chairman of CUPIA, Yoonshik Kim, said the two-day visit of CUPIA delegation was to apprise themselves of the Ghana Link CUPIA Uni-Pass system locally call the Integrated Customs Union Management System (ICUMS).
The CUPIA Chairman said the continuous improvement in technology and issues such as Artificial Intelligence and Big Data called for the need for continuous improvement of the system.
GIK/APA