The Director General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, Michael Luguje has reassured the business community of Burkina Faso of the Authority’s unwavering commitment to continue to make Ghana’s ports and corridors the preferred option for transit trade.

The GPHA Boss made Authority’s intentions known when a delegation from the Burkina Faso Chamber of Commerce, led by its president, Mahamadi Savadogo paid a working visit to the Port Authority to explore ways to enhance the business relationship the two parties share in the transit trade.

The delegation made a few concerns known such as port tariffs, the payment of VAT on transit goods charged by the GRA and the harmonization of shipping line charges among others.

The DG of GPHA explained how the Port Authority is working closely with the Government of Ghana to arrive at mutually beneficial solutions.

On shipping lines charges, Mr. Michael Luguje stated that, “for now, government is unable to regulate the charges of shipping lines, so the charges are often arrived at by engagement and trade related levels. However, it is a matter of concern. The Port Authority, the Ghana Shippers Authority and our mother Transport Ministry are discussing to see what arrangement we can arrive at.”

Likewise, the Director General of GPHA revealed that, the Authority is working closely with the GRA to decide on the future of VAT as a transit charge.

He called for increased collaboration between his outfit and the economic operators of Burkina Faso in research and information sharing towards the improvement of services for the transit business.

The DG says while the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority collaborates with other ports to ascertain the cost of doing business in each country, a holistic and accurate picture of all the cost components is hard to come by. As such, he is falling on the economic operators to assist in providing such data that will help the Authority work with stakeholders within the chain devise strategies to reduce cost of doing business.