CAPITOL HILL, Monrovia – The House of Representatives has unanimously voted to task its Committee on Commerce, Contract, and Monopoly with investigating the “bureaucratic bottlenecks” plaguing Liberia’s export and import sectors.
By Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
The decision was made following a request by Rep. Austin Blidi Taylor Sr. (District #3, Maryland County), communicated to the House through Speaker Fonati Koffa.
In his communication, Rep. Taylor highlighted the urgent need to address the intricate bottlenecks within Liberia’s import and export sector, which he described as having a detrimental impact on Liberian commerce.
“I write to crave the indulgence of plenary to investigate the intricate bottlenecks currently existing within the Liberian import and exports sector which has resulted in a consequential strangulating effect of the Liberian commerce,” Rep. Taylor said.
He emphasized the unfavorable nature of the local supply chain process, contrasting it with the economically viable system envisioned by all Liberians, including legislators.
He outlined the significant challenges faced by individuals within the sector when attempting to export or import goods. He noted the multiple fees imposed by entities such as MEDTECH Scientific and Global Tracking Maritime Solutions (GTMS) for cargo appraisal, as well as additional fees from shipping lines, leading to inflated prices for imported or exported goods.
He said: “A consignee or shipper is expected to pay an import or export duty fees to a supposedly destination inspection company known as MEDTECH Scientific, who appraises his cargo for duty payment. The consignee or shipper again pays a set of additional fees to another company called Global Tracking Maritime Solutions (GTMS) that serves a similar purpose. After going through the long procedures from these companies for several weeks and payment of their fees are made, a final appraisal and determination for export duties will now be made by the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) anyway, exposing the importer or exporter to a huge demurrage eventually incurred at the APM Terminals who only allows a free storage window of five days that unfairly includes weekends and holidays. Adding to these set of charges, the shipping lines have joined the bandwagon by having high delivery order (DO) fees which further skyrocket prices of imported or exported goods.”
Furthermore, Rep. Taylor expressed concern that Liberia is losing substantial revenue to neighboring countries like Guinea and Sierra Leone, where the import-export process is less burdensome and costly.
He urged plenary to take prompt action to address these institutional supply chain bottlenecks, emphasizing the need to curb revenue loss and prevent further price hikes of local commodities.
Meanwhile, plenary has subsequently tasked the Committee on Commerce, Contract, and Monopoly with investigating and providing a report within one week.