Some 150 excavators have successfully gone through the tracking system at the Minerals Commission since the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority started registering new excavators entering Ghana’s ports on May 1, 2025.
The move to register new excavators entering the country forms part of the government’s broader efforts to ensure responsible usage of mining and earth-moving equipment and to sanitise the mining sector.
The policy follows an alarming statistic from 2024, which showed that Ghana imported a staggering GHc6.2 billion worth of excavators, making it the third-highest import item.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said a special clearance code was being developed through the Customs Management System to track import permits.
The Minister said the Minerals Commission would fix tamper proof GP tracker on all registered excavators, which would blow an alarm at the Commission’s Control Room anytime anyone tampered with the equipment.
The Minister said once registration and issuance of number plate by the DVLA and excavator gated out of the port, the DVLA would assign a special identification number plate to the machinery, distinguishing them from the normal number plates.
The number for excavators would be green printed on a white background, he said.
The DVLA and Customs Division of the GRA has set up a 24-hour Service Operating Centre at the Tema Port for registration of excavators and issuance of import permits, the Minister stated.
GNA
