Sierra Leone News: Gov’t Terminates Cargo Tracking Note Contract
By Stephen V. Lansana
President Maada Bio on Thursday February 14, 2019, terminated the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) Contract with Transport and Port Management System, West Africa, Sierra Leone (TPMS-WASL) and Global Transport and Maritime Solutions (GTMS) effective February 15, 2019, for breaches of the terms and conditions.
President Bio terminated this contract in his Executive Order №3 titled: Operation of the Cargo Tracking Note System.
President Bio said, “As part of the Government ongoing reform process to reduce the cost of doing business in Sierra Leone, a review was instituted of the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) contract between the government of Sierra Leone and the Transport and Port Management System, West Africa, Sierra Leone (TPMS-WASL) and Global Transport and Maritime Solutions (GTMS).
According to him “during the review, Government uncovered substantial breaches of the terms and conditions of the contract amongst these breaches are the following: non-payment of government revenue amounting to US$ 11, 139, 581.68 equivalent to 95.8 billion Leones; unauthorized diversion of funds meant for the government of SL to foreign accounts; Failure to provide a performance bond of US$300.000 as required by Article 2(b) and Article 5.3(u) of the CTN Agreement; failure to comply with the requirement of Article 4(4.4) of the said agreement in respect of the provision of the software which will permit the National Commission for Privatisation (NCP) or the authority to review in real time all transactions of services stipulated in the agreement undertaken by the company within and outside Sierra Leone; failure to comply with the provision of article 4(4.5) of the agreement requiring TPMS-WASL to make a 12% interest payment in the event TPMS-WASL fails to make payment within the time stipulated in the agreement; failure to comply with article 5(5.3) (x) in the agreement requiring TPMS-WASL to provide monthly management accounts; yearly audited accounts; weekly customer complaints report; progress reports; half yearly monitoring committee report; weekly financial report; capital expenditure report; and yearly budget and planning report about the CTN project,” President Bio pointed out in the Executive Order №3.
President said that, base on the above breaches of the terms and conditions, the Sierra Leone Ports Authority (SLPA) has terminated the Cargo Tracking Note Contract with Transport and Port Management System, West Africa, Sierra Leone (TPMS-WASL) and Global Transport and Maritime Solutions (GTMS) effective February 15, 2019.
“Consequently, government has directed the management of the SLPA to take over the operations of the CARGO TRACKING NOTE effective February 15, 2019 for a period of 90 days. This will allow government to restructure the operations and management of the Cargo Tracking Note System,” he said. “The Ministry of transport and Aviation (MTA) and the NCP are hereby directed to facilitate the transfer of the CTN operations from TPMS-WASL and GTMS to the Management of the Sierra Leone Ports Authority effective February 15, 2019.”
Additionally, government has constituted an oversight committee comprising the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Transport and Aviation, NCP and SLPA to carry out an open international competitive bidding process to attract a credible private operator for the CTN System.