Cut red tape in commercial projects

Dynamic senior officials from the bureaucracy should be engaged in implementing the country's commercial and development projects, said a leading entrepreneur in Chittagong.
If the bureaucrats are given the authority to take decisions independently, economic progress will happen naturally in the port city, said Alihussain Akberali, chairman of Chittagong-based Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling Mills Group.
“We set up our first plant in Chittagong in 1952. Since then we have been doing modernisation and upgrading in our plants continuously. We face many hurdles, but there is a huge potential here,” he said.
If the government wants development in the country, there are chances, but a good intention is needed first, he said.
“If a joint secretary or a secretary is made the head of the body of private-public partnership projects, they will not be able to perform well because they are not tuned to commercial projects.”
Running a country and running a business is different, said Akberali.
The body could be formed comprising a group of dynamic officials from the bureaucracy and it should be headed by someone who is honest, capable, educated, experienced, he said.
If it can be done in such a way, the bureaucracy will really get a big boost for the development of the country, and side by side the government should enact necessary rules and laws for land acquisition, Akberali said.
The government has to make sure that the present rules of land acquisition are upgraded, he added.
If the government can take these dynamic decisions, the economy will get a boost. The only problem is in the governance -- the bureaucratic bottlenecks and some cumbersome processes.
The major problem in doing business in Chittagong is in the communication sector, especially road transport, he said.
“I have to carry my goods at Tk 800 to Tk 900 per tonne from Chittagong to Dhaka. If it was any other country, the cost would be half,” Akberali said.
However, he said the crisis of gas and electricity will be eased within a few years.
He also said there should be a separate budget for the development of Chittagong.
“There should be a parallel government within the central government to give sanction independently for any new project. And that is the way how Chittagong will boom.”
Akberali said the Board of Investment (BoI) should be made proactive and it should have representatives from the private sector or from the technocrats.
“We are planning to set up coal-based power project and a steel plant involving Tk 5,000 crore but got no response from the board,” he said.
He also stressed the need for major reforms in the BoI.
Akberali said the ministries and different government departments such as the National Board of Revenue should consider the proposals of the businessmen seriously while framing policies.
The government should be transparent and show respect to the recommendations from the businessmen, he said.
Akberali also said chambers in Chittagong are not doing their work properly.
The chambers should look into the problems of the businessmen seriously and take proper steps to get effective solutions to those problems, he said.
Akberali said his factories were never closed due to workers' unrest. “Our workers and officers are the shareholders of the company and many become millionaire.”
“We are the number one in the steel sector and will remain so.”