Oct 20, 2016: World Bank’s Periklis Saragiotis wants Ghana to look more seriously into shipment processes and procedures at the Tema Port if it is to become a hub for the West African sub-region.

He said the port could play a more critical role as an entry and exit point for countries in the sub-region if it focuses more on addressing the issue in processes and procedures for transit and transhipment.

Saragiotis, a private sector development specialist in trade and facilitation with the World Bank Group, said this at a public sector workshop on improving transparency and trade facilitation at the Tema Port, in Accra.

The workshop was one of two organised from October 10-13, 2016 by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the World Bank Group under the European Union-funded ‘Improved and Facilitated Trade in West Africa’ project.

He said there was intense competition in the sub-region, with countries improving their infrastructure and processes, thus it was important for port authorities in Ghana to find ways of being competitive, adding that global best practices as found in Singapore showed the benefits of focusing on transhipment.

“There are opportunities for Ghana; it’s out there. It’s just a matter of understanding the seriousness of the issues and trying to do something about them,” he said, adding that the proposed reforms in this area could be transformational in making the Tema port a regional hub and recognised global player.

The workshop brought together public sector stakeholders from or having a responsibility at the Tema Port and selected private sector stakeholders to review the port assessment maps and discuss the reform proposals from the private sector workshop held earlier in the week.

The project team, based on diagnostic and analytical assessment of processes and procedures at the Tema port, developed Business Process Maps (BPMs) to depict activities at the port and made recommendations for reforms to streamline the processes in a bid to reduce time and cost.

Saragiotis said while BPMs were used extensively by the private sector and industry in operational management, this was the first time the World Bank or any international financial institution was using this methodology to map the complex processes and procedures at the Port.

Image Courtesy: By SteKrueBe -https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6991455

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