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A RM1.4 million electronic
transaction project, initiated by
Port Klang Authority a year ago,
lies in ruin in a further starling
revelation of apathy and
incompetence at the port authority
undermining government's efforts to
create a paperless e-commerce within
the port and trading environment.
Port users and operators rained
complaints on the stalled manifest
balancing project as another
manifestation of ineptitude of the
port authority that seem clueless to
progress on the project.
Industry sources said the port
authority, which promised to
introduce a digitized environment
with the application the electronic
clearance of manifest balancing by
taking over the task from Selangor
Royal Customs Department, is still
groping in the dark after more than
year.
It is understood a meeting was
called last week by the authority to
look into the matter in the light of
complaints from port users who also
raised the specter of the failed
national port exchange that was
highlighted in this column last
week.
It was announced by PKA that the
electronic manifest balancing would
be part of the port exchange that
never took off despite a high
profile launch by the Minister of
Transport Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong
Sik on 30 August last year.
The general manager of PKA, Datin
Paduka O.C Phang boldly declared
last August that manifests submitted
by the freight forwarders and
shipping agents would be captured by
the authority in their computer
systems and that it would do away
with the need for input by third
parties including the terminals.
"It is more that a year since we
heard about it and we have no
knowledge what has happened to the
RM1.4 million "ghost" project that
the port authority awarded to Dagang
Net Technologies Sdn Bhd," said a
source.
The new method of manifest balancing
was expected to improve efficiency
and productivity and save manpower
costs.
The IT-based application was to
allow documents to be automatically
matched.
The new system when fully
implemented was expected to ensure
that all cargo declared matched
against the documents that have been
lodged with PKA and details in the
declaration are checked with the
details in the manifests.
PKA, which has been delegated the
responsibility to administer free
zone at the port by the Ministry of
Finance, assumes responsibility for
the manifest balancing.
Freight forwarders said the
electronic system would have allowed
them to submit their House BL
directly compared to the current
practice of submitting the manifest
using the 'principal shipping agent'
code via shipping agents mail box.
"We were also told that the new
system could handle vessels that
call at more than one terminal and
that government agencies could
retrieve full manifest information
by accessing the system," said a
major freight forwarder.
"This is another instance of failed
promise by PKA which goes around
making dubious claim displaying in
an environment that lacks
transparency and accountability,"
the source added.
"We are dismayed by the incompetence
of PKA and we want the general
manager of PKA to explain why there
is no result after so much money had
been spent," said the source from
the freight forwarding company.
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