Users of both international airports are beginning to experience significant improvements in processing times in Customs.

This comes as a result of the phased implementation of the Passenger Processing Improvement Project which started last month. The project is intended to expedite processing of passengers, provide greater privacy during the searching of luggage, and greater facilitation of passengers while in the Customs area.

Deputy Commissioner in charge of operations, Deloree Staple-Chambers, noted that this is just one of the initiatives geared at improving efficiency at the nation's ports.

Providing quality service

"Our goal is to provide quality service that promotes Jamaica as an economy that respects its citizens and values its visitors. Passenger arrival is increasing annually and so we have to implement procedures that will facilitate speedier processing," Mrs. Staple-Chambers said. She added that Customs is applying prescreening techniques that will intercept contraband, smuggled goods and goods for resale and at the same time create faster-moving channels for the ordinary passengers. This should reduce the bottleneck usually encountered in the peak season and with the arrival of multiple flights.

The Passenger Processing Improvement Project is the first major activity in the Tax Administration Reform activities under a new project (TaxARP II), that will build on the changes that were effected from December 1999 under TaxARP and the Customs Modernisation Programme.