AMURU: The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), unveiled the new state-of-the-art freight scanner at the Elegu border point in the Amuru district on Friday.
The NUCTECH Fast Scan (FS6000DC), capable of providing both horizontal and vertical image scanning of the cargo while in motion, was introduced by senior URA officials along with a number of various safety equipment.
While officiating the launch, Mr. Julius Nkwasire Mponoka, the URA’s Assistant Commissioner for Customs Control, said the team will increase revenue collection at the Elegu border thanks to its capabilities.
“In addition to increasing revenue, the machine will also address security issues and security control at the Uganda-South Sudan border in Elegu because of its radioactive portal mirror properties embedded in it,” he said.
According to Mr Mponoka, the machine (scanner) is characterized by high penetration and high detection sensitivity with excellent image quality due to its large scan tunnel. “Currently, URA sends up to 250 trucks in and 350 trucks out every day and the introduction of this machine means that the shipment of goods will be faster,” added Mponoka.
On the border with Elegu, URA had a machine that only scanned 20 trucks per hour, which affected its performance. But Ms. Victoria Nabitaka, Assistant Commissioner for Compliance and Business analysis at URA, says the new machine can clean 200 trucks per hour.
“In the past, we only dealt with risk management and didn’t scan every truck in or out, but now, with this type of technology, we can scan every truck,” she said.
“The new scanner also has radioactive and nuclear capability that can test anything that is radioactive and has nuclear capability and, as a result, we will be able to protect our society,” Nabitaka added. During the last financial year 2020/2021, the Elegu Border URA station raised Shs5.1 billion shillings compared to the goal of Shs3.1 billion shillings, a yield of more than 160 percent.
Ms Nabitaka said the station is expected to raise more than Shs7 billion shillings this financial year due to this new equipment.
The machines purchased in the second phase include three FS600 motion scanners to be installed at the borders of Eelgu, Mpondwe and Katuna, two CS0200T direct access passenger scanners to be installed in Busia and Malaba and three MT1213DE mobile scanners. Others include two MT0200BX backscatters and two XT2100L X-ray baggage screening systems.
In addition to the car, a baggage CT scanner and other mobile repositionable truck load scanner equipment were also delivered on Friday.
The first batch was received by Commissioner General John Rujoki Musinguzi on 27 September 2021 at the Nakawa headquarters.
Ms Nabitaka said the government of Uganda used a total of Shs103 billion to purchase all the equipment in the two lots.
“URA has adopted technology as an area of focus to achieve a revenue goal of Shs24.6 trillion. This will help in the rapid management of large volumes of scrap passing through the station and in the detection of concealments”. She added. Meanwhile, Mr Geoffrey Osborn Ocheng, Amuru DRC applauded the development, noting that it will help fight the current wave of terrorism.
“The equipment comes at a very strategic time when we are fighting terrorism and this is one of the counter-terrorist measures the government is taking. With the arrival of this machine, we will do more and make sure the country is safe, “he said.
“Over the past year, Mr. Ocheng said we were able to recover 3 weapons from people crossing South Sudan into Uganda and this will help us further intensify surveillance along the border,” Ocheng added.
Currently, URA has 40 non-intrusive inspection teams across the country. While 13 are already operational, 27 are still being installed at several strategic entry points.
