Held at the Paradise Suites Hotel, the event brought together various stakeholders and was presided over by the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs.
The Gambia TRS was conducted at the Banjul Seaport by the working group drawn from both GRA and its stakeholders such as, MOFEA, MOTIE, GPA, GPF, GID, GBOS, GCCI, FSQA, Shipping agencies and lines, ACFA and GBA.
The TRS project was successfully coordinated by Mr. Alieu Bittaye, DERMIT (Project Director) alongside Yahya Manneh, Director of Technical Service (Co-project Director) and under the direct supervision of Ismaila Jallow.
Speaking at the ceremony, Yahya Manneh, director of Technical Services thanked the Commissioner General and the entire management of GRA for the trust and confidence they have in appointing him as leader of the TRS and Risk Management Project.
Manneh disclosed that GRA through the support of the WCO-WACAM Project Phase II developed its first Project Management Guide in 2018.
The objective of developing such a document, he said, includes ensuring that implemented projects support the mission and the Corporate Strategic Plan of GRA, facilitate responsive and objective approval/decision making processes relating to projects, enhance ownership of the projects by senior and top management, clearly defining roles and responsibilities of project´s governing bodies and project team and to monitor the progress of programs/projects against indicators and initial project plans.
“It is gratifying to report that the TRS and Risk Management Project is the first to have adopted a project governance framework consisting of a project steering committee, project director, project manager and project team as outlined in the new GRA project management guide”.
Welcoming dignitaries, Yankuba Darboe, Commissioner General of Gambia Revenue Authority recalled that work on the implementation of the Time Release Study and Risk Management Projects started in 2019 through the financial support of the German International Agency for Development (GIZ) under the technical support and coordination of the World Customs Organization (WCO).
The Time Release Study, he went on, is indeed one of the tools under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement ratified by The Gambia in July 2017.
Commissioner Darboe indicated that the purpose of conducting TRS in The Gambia is to establish baseline data and information on the clearance of goods at the seaport of Banjul.