Five more services added to Bida OSS portal

The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) has added five more services to its One Stop Service (OSS) platform, taking the tally of investment-related services provided by the online portal up to 56.

Md Sirazul Islam, executive chairman of Bida, launched the services at the organisation's conference room yesterday.

While addressing the programme, Islam said implementing the philosophy of "Digital Bangladesh" has resulted in rapid development over the past decade.

"So in order to sustain the country's development pace, we have to change the attitudes of both the public and private sectors towards the use of digital services," he said.

As such, a single platform is needed for investors to avail relevant services from various government bodies in a quick, easy and cost-effective way.

"Bida is already working to this end and today (Sunday), five more

services were added to the OSS portal, which now provides 56 services from 18 government entities," Islam added.

The portal aims to help investors quickly implement business projects by centralising the delivery of necessary regulatory, compliance, and value-added services through a single window.

By bringing such ease in doing business, expectations are for Bangladesh to rise to a double-digit spot from the current three-digit one in the associated World Bank index.

The Bida executive chairman went on to say that his organisation caters to an average of around 100 service requests each day but the number is increasing continuously.

The five new services will come from as many government bodies, namely Bida (recommendation of third ad hoc import registration certificates), the National Board of Revenue (issuance of income tax certificates to foreign citizens), the Department of Import and Export Regulatory Authority (export certificates), Chattogram City Corporation (trade licence), and the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (country of origin provision).

However, investors are yet to fully enjoy the benefits of availing such services online when it comes to working with two government bodies in particular -- the Department of Environment (DoE) and the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.

Service providers are responsible for checking applicants' documents and if everything is in order, a no-objection certificate or approval is provided.