"El Amatillo" customs project includes the construction of new offices and a parking lot for trucks.
Miguel Angel Soriano heads the Salvadoran Association of International Cargo Transporters. He remarked that his association will donate 18 blocks of terrain for the construction of the offices and the parking lot.
Soriano also added that "... the idea is for the Association to have its own infrastructure centralized there.
In order to provide greater transparency and agility, an Operations Traceability System was developed.
With this new software, users of the customs system will obtain information on the flow of products through the different entry points of the country. By means of a password, clients will know, for example, where their product are at any given time.
The Customs Director General is projecting revenue of about $1 billion, according to preliminary estimates for 2009.
During the first quarter of 2009, general collection decreased by 16%, $115.7 million less than for same period in 2008.
German Rivas wrote in Laprensagrafica.com: "Of this total, 40% was collected by Customs, which recorded a decrease of 25% from January to April this year, with the maritime border of Acajutla in Sonsonate and the land border of San Bartolo in San Salvador being the ones that were impacted the most. The five products that bring in the most resources with respect to duties on imports (DAI) and Value Added Tax (VAT) are fuel, machinery, electrical equipment, cars and plastic articles.
Through the portal of eSalPort, importers will have access to all the information related to the procedures and logistics of their cargo shipments.
Laprensagrafica.com reports: "The importing sector can count on a new tool that will reduce the entry times for goods to the country that enter through the customs located at the port of Acajutla and the International Airport of El Salvador (AIES)."
The Customs Department (DGA) will, via the Business Fulfillment Customs Program, certify import companies.
Laprensagrafica.com reports: "The certification is an acknowledgment of the proper operation and action in the customs environment for companies, which will result in benefits as delays and costs at customs will be reduced," confirmed Gustavo Villatoro, director of the DGA.
The level of customs risk for exporting companies will be evaluated jointly by the private sector and the authorities.
The evaluation will take place in order to speed up the processing of merchandize and to improve global fee trade indicators.
Under the Business Alliance for Secure Trading project, promoted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of El Salvador (CCIES), the private sector is seeking to minimize the risk that exporters face from customs processes, providing them with a certificate which to date is not approved by the government sector.
El Salvador's Customs service said it collected US$1.093 billion in import duties and tariffs last year, a 10.7 percent increase on 2006.
While the amount collected increased at a rate of US$45-60 million a year between 2002 and 2005, since then it has risen to US$100 million a year.
Customs chief Gustavo Villatoro said increased controls had offset the projected US$420 million loss that had been expected from tariff reductions after the free trade agreement with the United States came into effect in March, 2006.