The Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Dr Renganaden Padayachy, effected a site visit, today, at the Integrated Customs Clearance Centre (ICCC) at Le Chaland Road, Plaine Magnien, to take stock of the progress of works as regards the construction of the Centre. He was accompanied by the Director-General of the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA), Mr Sudhamo Lal.
In a statement, Mr Lal recalled that the ICCC will be a one-stop-shop to provide all necessary facilities for cargo clearance at Plaine Magnien. He emphasised that it will have as main objectives to facilitate trade, reduce cargo dwell time, and aid in the combat against drug trafficking and money laundering.
He added that this modern building will house several border agencies under one roof, in accordance with the World Customs Organisation’s concept of Coordinated Border Management (CBM). Furthermore, he stated that the ICCC will help to improve the Ease of Doing Business ranking of Mauritius as well as achieve efficiency in clearance.
The Director-General underlined that the CBM will be highly beneficial to the trading community in terms of reduced transactions costs through expedited processing and clearance times, and reduced hassles and waiting times for moving from one agency to another. All these factors will no doubt contribute to reducing the cost of doing business, he observed.
The construction of the ICCC building started on 15th January 2020 and as at date the project, estimated at a cost of Rs 650 million, is completed at 73%. It is expected that the facility will be inaugurated in January 2022, he said.
The Integrated Customs Clearance Centre
The stone-laying ceremony for the ICCC building was done by the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, on 26 January 2020 on the occasion of International Customs Day. The ICCC building is unique in its genre with a modern architectural design and an eco-friendly building encompassing green concepts such as use of solar energy, maximum use of natural lighting, and rain-water harvesting systems.
The building will have a modern architectural design and will be equipped with the necessary facilities and amenities to provide a value-added service to the trading community, including: modern office space for a better interaction between government authorities and stakeholders; auditorium and training room facilities; conference rooms for meetings and video-conferencing; detention Cell (to be used by Customs Anti-Narcotics Section); Sniffer dogs compound and leisure area; CCTV control room; and Canteen/cafetaria and other welfare amenities.
It is to be noted that several governmental agencies have showed interest to have a sub-office at the ICCC to provide an integrated clearance facility at the airport. The concept of CBM enables stakeholders to conduct all transactions, such as application of permits and authorisations, payment of fees, duty and taxes and clearance of goods, in a single building.
All these measures will facilitate trade; reduce the cost of doing business and dwell time. Moreover, CBM promotes a better synergy among the different governmental agencies that will ultimately result in a more effective delivery of service, an optimum use of available resources, better connectivity with stakeholders, wider sharing of information and intelligence, the application of systematic risk management and better inter-agency cooperation.
