Calls for making one-stop service for investors efficient, accountable

The government has earned plaudits for making a law to provide all services to the local and foreign investors at a 'single point', but it has been advised to deliver the one-stop services with skilled workforce and hold those to account.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com

Published : 21 March 2018, 05:24 PM

Updated : 23 March 2018, 01:02 PM

At a meeting of the technical advisory committee of Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund (BICF) supported by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation or IFC, business leaders emphasised developing infrastructure, cutting corporate tax rates and improving connectivity in order to lure in more investment.

Bangladesh Investment Development Authority or BIDA Executive Chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam said they discussed the ‘strategic roadmap and corporate plan’ on investment at the meeting, the second in nine months, hosted by the World Bank Group and UKAID.

bdnews24.com Editor-in-Chief Toufique Imrose Khalidi said it was important to have skilled manpower to run the one-stop service, sanctioned by the One Stop Service Act of 2018 passed last month.

Khalidi congratulated BIDA on “successfully prodding the politicians in to passing the crucial legislation. I hope that the much-vaunted One Stop Shop will actually deliver on its promises and work to its full potential.

“I would strongly recommend that we take great care when it comes to quality of people delivering that service and suggest recruitment of private sector professionals.”

Kazi M Aminul Islam

Toufique Imrose Khalidi

The journalist said the service providers must be held to account to avoid delays and corruption as feared by a member of parliament prior to the passage of the law.

BIDA and several other government agencies including BEPZA and BEZA will provide 27 types of services at a single point.

BIDA Executive Chairman Kazi M Aminul said complaints about difficulties in getting business registered, paying taxes, building infrastructure, getting utility connections and many other issues came their way.

They have taken initiatives, he said, by going through the complaints so that the investors can get the services comfortably in a short time and at a reduced cost.

“That’s why the initiative was taken to enact the law following the prime minister’s instructions,” he added.

Abul Kasem Khan

Masrur Reaz

The BIDA executive chairman said they have moved for massive reforms to ensure an investment-friendly environment in Bangladesh.

About the ‘strategic roadmap and corporate plan’ already finalised, he said it primarily aims to augment investment with a focus on a concerted national development.

Secondly, he said, the plan is to expand the investment promotion activities beyond Dhaka and Chittagong to the rural areas.

The third objective of the plan is to involve ‘extensively’ the private sector in the investment promotion activities that have been limited to some government agencies.

The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry or MCCI President Nihad Kabir suggested ensuring transparency in the regulatory structure and framework for domestic and foreign investments.

Mahfuzul Haque Shah

Rupali Chowdhury

She said the rules and regulations should be applied without discrimination and the decisions made quickly.

“Waiting for a decision for months on end will never attract any investment,” she warned.

She expressed frustrations with the run-down condition of the roads.

“It won’t be possible for anyone to invest if it takes five hours to travel from Gazipur to Dhaka,” she said and suggested launching commuter train services surrounding the capital.

Kabir also called for updating the foreign exchange regulations, and tax laws and system.

She said high tax rates cannot ensure high receipts and suggested that Bangladesh keep the rates in line with those of the neighbouring countries. “Only targeting the large taxpayers won’t work,” she said.

International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh president Mahbubur Rahman also spoke against the high tax rates which he said would not necessarily guarantee high revenue.

Abul Kasem Khan, President, the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Masrur Reaz, Senior Economist, World Bank Group’s Dhaka office, Keith Thompson, Private Sector Development Adviser, DfID, Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director, Policy Research Institute, Rupali Chowdhury, MD, Berger Paints Bangladesh, Arif Khan, CEO, IDLC Finance Limited, Asif Ibrahim, former president, DCCI, and Mahfuzul Haque Shah, former director, the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, among others, attended the meeting.