Govt to take steps to cut hassles of investors

Investors are expected to get quick services online from this year, thanks to a government initiative to frame a law -- One Stop Service Act -- to encourage local and foreign investors to create jobs and accelerate the pace of the economy, said officials.

The law is likely to be placed at the next session of the parliament, said Tauhidur Rahman Khan, a director of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA).

“We want to give all services that are necessary for an industry under one umbrella,” he said.

Once the law is passed, officials and employees of various agencies will feel obliged to provide services to the businesses without any delay. 

In absence of legal binding, investment promotion agencies did not always get required support from other organisations to quickly facilitate trade and investment and improve business climate.

Bangladesh has been staying at the bottom of the ease of doing business rankings by the World Bank for the last several years, which is believed to be one of the main factors discouraging foreign investments in the country.

Bangladesh moved two notches up to 176 in doing business 2017 report from 178 the previous year. However, its position in terms of starting a business dropped seven points to 122 for the year 2017 from 115 the previous year.

It takes 19.5 days to complete procedures for starting a business here, which is higher than South Asian average of 15.4 days, according to the ease of doing business report.

Bangladesh's ranking in terms of getting electricity connection remained unchanged with businesses requiring 404 days, much higher than South Asian average. And 244 days are passed to register property here.

Khan said investors abroad have interests in Bangladesh and reduction of procedures and simplification of processes will attract them.

“We are working to reduce and simplify procedures with the target of bringing down time and cost of investors,” he said. Board of Investment and Privatisation Commission were merged into one entity -- BIDA -- in August last year.

BIDA has sent letters to various service providers seeking to take steps to ease the process of doing business.

It suggested agencies analyse processes and tasks at every stage and identify underlying reasons behind the problems such as the delay in comparison with other countries, according to BIDA letters.

Khan said they want to provide one stop services online from February this year by reducing the number of procedures and simplifying them.

Investors will submit applications online and those will be sent to the related agencies, Khan said, adding that clearance should be given within a certain time as per law.