Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority has successfully added 11 new services to its One-Stop Service (OSS) platform as part of its ongoing efforts to improve the ease of doing business in Bangladesh.

Beza now offers a total of 32 services under the OSS that provides easy access to information, application processing and other facilities required by investors at home and abroad.

By improving Bangladesh's ranking on the Ease of Doing Business index, Beza hopes to attract more investment for the country's various economic zones.

Of the 11 services added, 8 are for securing environment clearance certificates under different categories. The categories are: (ECC -Red), renewal of ECC (red), ECC (green), renewal of ECC (green), ECC (Orange A), renewal of ECC (Orange A), ECC (Orange B), renewal of ECC (Orange B).

The remaining 3 services include approval of application for environmental impact assessment, repatriation of technical know-how and assistance fee (in case of exceeding 6 per cent of the cost of imported machinery) and repatriation of royalty fee (in case of exceeding 6 per cent of the annual sales on income tax return for the previous year).

Beza launched the new services at a programme held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka yesterday. It also announced that Inter-Asia Group Pte is set to invest $80 million in the country's tourism sector.

The Singapore-based company will use the fund to establish a hotel, cultural centre, museum, amphitheatre and an entrainment park at the Sabrang Tourism Park in Cox's Bazar.

This investment will generate around 6,000 employment opportunities, according to Beza.

The economic zones authority has also signed an agreement with Great Outdoors Adventures for tourism infrastructure development at Sabrang Tourism Park. The organisation will invest $5.5 million at the zone.

The OSS Centre offers 125 services, of which 37 will be delivered by Beza within the yearend while the remaining 88 will be provided by other departments concerned through the platform.

Of the 37 services designated to Beza, the organisation will provide 32 through an online platform. However, the 93 other OSS services are delivered manually.

Beza currently provides 21 services under OSS.

Ever since the OSS was first launched in October last year with an aim to improve the ease of doing business in Bangladesh, the centre has helped its clients secure a total of 56 project clearances, 7,202 import permits, 1,411 export permits, 669 visa recommendations, 181 work permits, and 41 trade licences, according to a senior official of the OSS Centre.

By ensuring the quick delivery of its services without having to jump through all the bureaucratic hoops, the centre has made the use of speed money redundant, said Paban Chowdhury, executive chairman of Beza.