Four power distribution companies to provide services through Bida’s OSS
Bida officials hope this will help improve the country's trade environment
Aimed at improving the ease of doing business in the country, the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) is set to incorporate the services of four power distribution companies into its One Stop Service (OSS) portal.
Bida is going to sign deals with the state-run companies which will open the opportunity to ensure electricity connections for investors within 28 days of online applications.
Authorities of the Dhaka Power Distribution Company, Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board, Northern Electricity Supply Company, and West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited will sign the deals with Bida at an event at the Bida premises in Dhaka on Tuesday.
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Jibon Krishna Saha Roy, Director (One Stop Service and Regulatory Reform) of Bida, told The Business Standard, "We are going to sign memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the four electricity distribution companies."
"It will take one or two months to integrate services of these companies into Bida's system. Then investors will be able to receive services of these companies online," he added.
Engineer Bikash Dewan, managing director of DPDC, told The Business Standard that Dhaka Electric Supply Company had earlier signed an MoU with Bida.
All power distribution companies, except for the distribution wing of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, will provide their services through Bida's OSS.
Officials at Bida said that it has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 16 agencies to provide services through OSS and the number will reach 20 after the new MoUs.
Currently, OSS provides 21 services–14 from Bida and seven from other agencies. The number of services from the OSS will reach 25 after the implementation of the new MoUs.
Kazi Md Mohsin Uzzal, deputy director of Bida, said another 41 services are waiting to be integrated into the OSS.
He also said Bida signed separate MoUs with four agencies to integrate 13 services, while most of the services are waiting to be incorporated into the system.
In September 2018, Bida signed a deal with Business Automation Limited in an aim to provide all kinds of services online to all local and foreign investors.
In light of the deal, Bida launched the OSS portal in February last year. It promised to provide more than 154 services from 35 organisations through the online platform in the future.
Bida officials hope this will help Bangladesh improve its position on the ease of doing business index in addition to improving the country's trade environment.
They said Bangladesh ranked 168th among 190 countries on the World Bank's latest ease of doing business index. The one-stop service rules, if implemented correctly, will enable Bangladesh to climb down to a two-digit position, they added.
