October 19, 2016 Source

Up to last month, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) did not have a functioning container scanner as one was no longer usable and the other had malfunctioned and a fixed location has to be found for it.

These revelations were contained in the 2015 report of the Auditor General on the Public Accounts of Guyana.

The report noted that in May 2010, the GRA purchased an electronic container scanner at a cost of US$1M for the purpose of 100% container scanning. The report said that the scanner was pressed into operation on May 23, 2011 and was determined to be inoperable on 18^th October, 2014 as a result of a loss of power to the electrical cabinet.

This scanner had experienced problems after its installation and questions had been raised in the public about the wisdom of its purchase.

The Auditor General’s report said that another scanner was procured in November 2013 at a cost if US$5.3m and placed into service on January 4, 2014. The report said it became inoperable 30 months later on June 18, 2016. As of September 2016, the report said that the situation remained the same.

The report said that the GRA’s response to the findings was that the first scanner is unserviceable and that it was not cost-effective to repair it. The GRA said that the second scanner, a mobile one has “malfunctioned because of its constant exposure to the weather conditions. The scanner was repaired but currently the Authority is in the process of identifying a permanent location for the scanner”.

This second scanner had been funded by China.

At the launching in 2014, then Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh had said it was another high value addition to Guyana’s port security hardware to ensure the country is compliant with international laws.

GINA had said that the mobile container is the world’s first mobile container inspection unit using an electronic linear accelerator as its X-ray source. “It can be operational within 30 minutes of arriving at a new site or port. The equipment is operational in over 20 countries and is able to scan a 40 foot container in 60 seconds and can inspect 15 to 20 units of 40 foot container trucks in an hour,” GINA had said.