BIDA expects progress in World Bank’s Doing Business rankings after reform push

BIDA is expecting Bangladesh to climb in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking next year as investors have started getting benefits of the reforms it has pushed through.

“We are expecting progress,” Executive Chairman Kazi M Aminul Islam said on Wednesday while giving an update on the progress in removing the tardy process of starting business in the country.

Bangladesh is currently ranked 177th among 190 countries in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking – meaning it is a difficult place to conduct or start business for investors.

Bangladesh Investment Development Authority targets to secure a place below 100 by 2021 which will require an improvement by at least 15 notches a year.

They discussed it with the different ministries and came up with an announcement on Jan 1 last year that all process of starting a business would be completed by seven days in place of 19.5 days now.

In line with the reforms, agencies like RAJUK would give construction permits within 60 days instead of current 278 days and processes of getting electricity connection would be completed by 28 working days instead of 404 days. 

The executive chairman said they had already noticed “positive developments”.

“We came to know that [positive developments] from the customers who receive the services, not from the providers [government agencies].”

But he said reform is a “continuous process”.

“Change does not take place overnight. Change is always difficult and it’s always painful. More so, in every work many people are involved, many systems are involved. So to bring massive changes, you need to change the whole system. Partial changes cannot bring a big change,” he said.

Citing examples of India, he said it took 30 years for the country to reap benefits of doing business reforms.

Last year, India’s ranking on the ease of doing business went up 30 notches, the highest jump in that year for any nation.

BIDA Consultant Sakib N Farhan said speaking with the consumers, they found it takes only 28 days now to get electricity at the commercial level. 

“We have ensured that meters are ready for dispatch inside 28 days of applications being made,” he said.

They have also surveyed a group of beneficiaries to understand how satisfied they were after getting services from the Dhaka electric supply company or DESCO.

“Sixty-four percent were very satisfied and 25 percent were satisfied at DESCO services,” he said.

Walton Hi-Tech Industries Ltd Deputy Executive Director Md Sheikh Abdul Awal said they could cut production costs with the government’s support.

“We used to use our own diesel-generated electricity. It costs Tk 16 to 18 per unit. We need about 18MW electricity. So it was difficult for us to compete with the foreign products because with this electricity cost, the production cost goes up.

“Later, we spoke to the government and they helped us. We got the REB [Rural Electrification Board] power. It costs only Tk 8 per unit.

“And then our products became cheap,” he said to elaborate on the benefits of BIDA’s doing business reforms.