The process of merging the two government enterprises-Board of Investment (BoI) and Privatisation Commission (PC)-has got going after a recess.
An inter-ministerial meeting on the issue was held on Tuesday, five days after Finance Minister AMA Muhith stressed in his budget speech the need for immediate merger of BoI and PC alongside other reforms to infuse dynamism into its administration.
The meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) with its principal secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad in the chair reviewed the draft law prepared by a sub-committee and decided to bring some changes to the draft law.
The meeting, attended by representatives from the ministries and divisions concerned, also decided to seek suggestions and opinions from all stakeholders.
"The draft law will soon be sent to all the ministries and departments concerned as well as trade and chamber bodies, beneficiaries of the merger, soliciting their suggestions and opinions on it," said an official who attended the meeting.
The meeting, sources said, held a threadbare discussion on the issue and stressed the need for expediting the process as the highest office of the government wants to complete the process soon to establish a single entity to promote private investment in the country.The government early last year decided to merge the two state bodies in a bid to introduce one-stop services for promoting domestic and foreign private investments in Bangladesh.
The Cabinet Division issued a circular on April 30 last year for forming a seven-member merger proposal preparation committee headed by Additional Secretary M Mainuddin. A sub-committee was also formed to draft the necessary law on the merger.
But the process of merger slowed down and at one stage got stuck due to indifferent attitudes and varying opinions of officials of the ministries and government bodies concerned. The Prime Minister also directed the officials concerned at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) in April last to expedite the merger process.
For years, the two bodies have been known for their ineffectiveness. By amalgamating them the government would now try to see something positive arising out of it.
The government took the decision following the private sector's demand to reactivate the state-owned enterprises, entrusted with the responsibilities of attracting private and foreign investments as well as spurring industrialisation.
The PC has long alleged that ministries and divisions concerned have never cooperated with it, making its function difficult. Over the years, the Ministry of Finance took several attempts to close down the PC as per the directive of the Prime Minister's Office. However, the ministry later changed its mind.
Once the law is enacted, the unified BoI and PC will be named "Bangladesh Investment and Industries Development Authority (BIIDA)" with an Executive Chairman as head of the entity.
According to sources, once the new organisation starts working, its one wing may handle investment-related proposals while the other will line up land and take steps to allocate it to genuine investors.
"Once the new organisation comes into being, the investors will be relieved of the problem of slow service delivery. With establishment of the single entity there will be a set timeframe for giving utility service connections to the industries," said an official.
The BoI was established in 1989 under the Investment Board Act . The government formed the Privatisation Board in 1993, which was turned into the Privatisation Commission in 2000. The PC has failed to make a fresh list of state-owned enterprises (SoEs) for divestment since 2009. Although the government spent Tk 170 million (17 crore) annually, no public firms were divested during the period.
mzrbd@yahoo.com
