ILLEGAL items in containers will now be intercepted as the mobile X-ray imaging scanner will now be in full operation after a container scanner site was launched on Monday at Lombard Street Georgetown.
In attendance were Minister of Finance Winston Jordan, Commissioner General of GRA Godfrey Statia, CEO of Guyana National Industrial Company (GNIC) Clinton Williams, representatives from the Chinese embassy and special invitees.
Minister Jordon said the scanner will be able to detect illegal exports while meeting international obligations and deter illegal trade activities. He asked handlers and persons in charge of the equipment to treat it with care and the attention it deserves as Guyana looks forward to develop its export potential in the international arena.
Noting that it’s a Public Private Partnership between GRA and GNIC, Minister Jordan said that government recently launched its framework for such partnerships which is an attempt to draw in foreign, local and private sector investments with government in boosting infrastructure and sustainable businesses.
“The partnership was important to get this facility going…it has come a far way from what was endured in the national park (where the scanner previously operated) and with much care the facility can last a long time. We would like to see many more of these partnerships come to fruition,” he said.
He explained that government does not have all the money and Guyana’s needs are tremendous and more public private partnerships are needed to push the developmental drive. “We don’t have all the answers as a government, the private sector doesn’t have all the answers, the private sector has strengths and the government has strengths and I believe we can marry those strengths and at the end of the day we can have a fruitful relationship,” he explained.
The mobile x-ray imaging scanner with a new fixed container scanner was procured through grant-aid from China. Adding that it is a testimony of the collaboration between the Government and the People’s Republic of China since establishing a relationship in 1972, Minister Jordan said the bond has withstood the test of time “and it is equipment like these that give us hope that our relationship will continue to endure and flourish.”
Returning from a trip to China recently, the Finance Minister said he was shown technologies in the latest spheres of life and more tangible gesture by China are needed in Guyana as it develops to its full potential.
Williams for his part said the need for efficient and effective security for ports and harbours are now a necessity. Commissioner General of GRA Godfrey Statia said in the advent of oil and with the absence of port authority new wharves will have to be equipped with a scanner and the old established ones must take the necessary steps to procure scanning equipment since the utilisation of the national park is not an option anymore.
GRA will scan not only imports but also merchandise destined for foreign jurisdictions which meet the criteria for trading with some of Guyana’s major partners. One such is the Unites States which requires universal scanning of all containers entering that jurisdiction.
GRA became somewhat limited in this capacity after the stationary scanner at the GNSC Lombard St location became inoperable in 2014 and the mobile x-ray imaging scanner acquired in 2014 also experienced some operational challenges during 2016.
The acquisition of container scanners compliments the efforts by the GRA to reduce trade transaction costs and time, improve international competitiveness and promote international maritime security and safety. In pursuit of these objectives and the estimated projected increase in container traffic, the GRA has been having ongoing discussions with wharf owners and other stakeholders in investing in such equipment so that container scanning will form part of their routine operations.
