(Trinidad Guardian) A significant step to increasing the ease of doing business was made on Tuesday after the Ministry of Trade and Industry signed a contract for the implementation and maintenance of a new Port Community System.
At the signing on Tuesday, deputy permanent secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Randall Karim, explained the move was expected to improve the ease of doing business in the country.
“This initiative is an important milestone for the Ministry of Trade and Industry. It represents our continued attempts to improve the ease of doing business in Trinidad and Tobago. The Port Community System (PCS) is an IT (Information Technology)-based platform that will seek to integrate the IT systems of the Port, the Customs and Excise division, and that used by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and make all systems interoperable to improve the ease of doing business for stakeholders throughout Trinidad and Tobago,” said Karim.
The deal was signed with French company Soget, an IT service management company.
Herve Cornede, the Chief Executive Officer of Soget explained the company aimed to improve the competitiveness of, not only the country’s ports, but all logistics hubs in Trinidad and Tobago.
“It’s not only an IT project, it’s a change management project. So we bring all these stakeholders on the same platform which is the Government, with the board (of the Port), with Customs in order to improve the competitiveness. I think there are two goals. First of all, is to attract more investments and to develop (Trinidad and Tobago) like the Minister of Trade has always said, as the hub for business on logistics in the Caribbean,” he said.
Soget is expected to introduce the PCS, a neutral electronic platform that connects the border clearance IT systems used by various stakeholders. The PCS, the Ministry explained will facilitate the intelligent and secure exchange of information along the supply chain and will allow for automation, management and optimization of port logistics processes through the single submission of data.
The project, which based on its contract will cost US$9.8 million, is set to see its first implementation steps begin in September.
“It is a project that will involve a 24-month period for implementation and of course thereafter with IT systems maintenance. The PCS platform will have a multitude of modules including a road transport module, a port module. And so there are various modules that will be deployed throughout the two-year phase of implementation.
After the 24-month implementation, Soget will stay on to train officials in the use of the system in the third year.