Saying that TT sits on a "drug trafficking corridor," the Finance Minister has identified several measures geared at improving the security of the nation's borders.
Colm Imbert announced that the Customs and Excise Division (CED) intends to acquire four mobile scanners for its fleet.
Imbert said the drug trafficking corridor links drug-producing regions in Central and South America with the large drug-consuming markets in North America and beyond.
This traffic, he added, has generated high levels of violence and gang-related crime in the country.
"As we mobilise to counter these nefarious activities, it is imperative that the division upgrade its fleet of mobile scanners to provide enhanced non-intrusive inspection (NII) coverage of imports and exports," Imbert said.
"To achieve this, an International Tender Notice was issued, inviting tenders for the supply, delivery, installation, and commissioning of four large scale NII high/medium mobile X-ray systems."
Imbert spoke on Tuesday afternoon at the opening ceremony of CED's new building and jetty at King's Wharf, San Fernando.
He gave the featured address on behalf of the Prime Minister, who was initially set to deliver the featured address.
The building and the jetty cost a total of $10 million.
The minister added that since the invitation to tender, the CED and Central Tenders Board have worked assiduously and continued to engage with interested parties.
"It is anticipated that the tendering process for the four scanners would be completed by the end of February," Imbert said.
"After that, we would move swiftly to select an appropriate supplier and commission and establish the scanners."
He recalled that recently there were lots of talk about scanners.
"I made the point that TT scans about five or seven times more containers than are scanned in the US and ten times more than what is scanned in the European Union," Imbert said.
"The point I was making is if we were to scan 100 per cent of containers, trade would grind to a halt."
He said he was intrigued last week when he received letters from business organisations complaining about the time it took to scan containers at the port. The business community was asking him to do something about it.
"We scan at 17 per cent, if we scan 100 per cent, I cannot imagine what they would put in the letters," Imbert said.
"That is the society we live in. We have sort of a schizophrenia approach to matters. People want 100 per cent scanning but do not want delays at the ports."
San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello, San Fernando East and West MPs Brian Manning and Faris Al-Rawi, as well as president of the Greater San Fernando Area Chamber of Commerce Kiran Singh, attended the ceremony. UDeCOTT chairman Noel Garcia and officials from the division also attended.
The ministry also intends to acquire and use scanners at transit sheds and container examination stations.
Imbert said transit sheds and private warehouses provide an invaluable service in terms of trade facilitation and revenue coll
