By Haddy Touray
To ensure efficient service delivery at the port, the Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA) has recently installed two state-of-the-earth machines, GRA boss Mr. Yankuba Darboe disclosed.
He disclosed this during GRA Board members’ tour of the Seaport of Banjul last Thursday.
According to him, the two live tracking devices system can detect anything passing through the port of Banjul.
The first one is a state-of-the-earth scanning devicethat can detect anything and is installed at the port of Banjul. “This is one of the best scanning systems in West Africa,” Mr Darboe stated.
For the second one, he says, it is a state-of-the-earth electronic weighing bridge that detects the bulk of containers carried by trucks passing through the port.
“The two devices are currently installed at the port of Banjul to monitor containers loaded with bulk of goods and vehicles coming into the Gambia without any escort,” he revealed.
Explaining the primary objectives of introducing the new system in the Gambia, Mr Darboe said they were geared towards eliminating all illegal importation of goods and also reduced leakages that caused revenue loss to the state. Still, he continues, they will ensure that proper procedures are followed to generate revenue for the government.
He described the system as very sophisticated while urging GRA staff to use the maximum usage of the system to avoid any linkages. He says the newsystem will help GRA to collect the much-needed revenue for national development.
According to Darboe, the seaport of Banjul is one of the most important revenue-generating sources for GRA, contributing sixty to sixty-five percent of revenue. He says GRA therefore deems it very fitting to install the scanning machine at the seaport that will interface with the single window to detect any false declaration of goods.
CG Darboe also promises that GRA will not relent inits efforts, to do every humanly possible to keep up the momentum in raising the bar height. He disclosed that in January 2024 alone GRA collected overall over (D1.7) billion and in February over (D1.4 billion). “We are hoping that the collection ofrevenue in March will surpass the two last month’srevenue”. CG Darboe assured.
According to CG Darbo the new weighing bridge is a testimony of the commitment and determination ofthe GRA Board and Management to ensure that any loaded truck carrying a container is well-screened.It will help to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of GRA staff to collect the much-needed revenue with less cost-effectiveness.
The objective of the GRA Board’s tour was to visit GRA staff at various branch offices within the Greater Banjul Area and have an interactive session to get firsthand information about their challenges and successes.