One-stop platform to expedite business process

It's a good piece of news that the government has, of late, decided to establish National Single Window (NSW) as a one-stop platform for  completing all kinds of business procedures online. The customs wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will reportedly act as the lead agency to maintain the Window for providing services to the investors, entrepreneurs, exporters and importers.
There is also a plan to form a National Council for Trade and Transport Facilitation under the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to coordinate among the stakeholders in dealing with different issues on trade and transport and taking policy decisions for ensuring and expanding business-friendly environment in the country. The council will consist of representatives from different ministries and business bodies.
It may be mentioned that the NSW would be established under the Regional Connectivity Project of the World Bank which was undertaken to facilitate domestic and international trade and businesses, ease business procedures, and reduce cost of doing business through automation of business process. The country's business community hailed the decision of establishing the NSW. Both the traders and entrepreneurs will be able to complete their business procedures and submit documents related to setting up new ventures, exports and imports online using this single platform that will save their time, reduce cost and harassment in doing business.
All agencies related to trade and business including Customs, Bangladesh Bank, office of the Register of Joint Stock Companies and Banks, Board of Investment and other service providing agencies will be linked with the NSW in order to achieve the desired results.  A steering committee is scheduled to be formed headed by the commerce minister that will include secretaries of different ministries and divisions to implement the decision of the national council. Several working groups would be formed on NSW, border management and infrastructure and trade facilitation agreement of World Trade Organisation (WTO) under the ministries concerned.
Trade analysts say establishing the NSW is a good decision but the NBR should continue its existing automation programmes. Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh Customs have already taken initiatives to conduct all types of import and export related procedures online instead of existing manual system under which traders can open letters of credit (LCs), submit export and import documents without having to visit banks and customs offices.
In fact, one-stop platform for completing all kinds of business procedures online is very much necessary in order to reduce cost of doing business. However, reducing cost of business depends on a host of other factors. These include re-fixing trade licence renewal fee, lowering interest rate to single-digit, stopping collection of toll on bridges, and upgrading road and railway links between Dhaka and Chittagong.
Trade analysts say import registration certificate (IRC) and export registration certificate (ERC) renewal fee need to be refixed in a logical manner, keeping minimum individual income tax at Tk 3,000, and widening tax-net instead of putting pressure on existing taxpayers.    
There is no denying that no appreciable measures were taken to reduce the adverse impact of poor infrastructure, corruption and inefficient bureaucracy on the country's business environment so far. Inadequate infrastructural facilities were identified as the top barrier to doing business in Bangladesh, followed by corruption.
Many businessmen, however, say inefficient government bureaucracy affect business environment. The business-government relation is not friendly and this has seen some regress. Rebuilding the relationship with businesses should be a major task confronting the government.
According to a recent survey, government instability, access to financing, policy instability, inadequately educated workforce and crime and theft are among the top problems facing the business community.
Over the last six years, the survey says, perception about general infrastructure had undergone little change. It was stuck in the 'worse' category although supply of electricity improved significantly. The government's efforts to combat corruption and bribery were rated highly ineffective.
The government has, of late, decided to provide new gas connections and additional load to over 354 industrial units after a pause of about six years. Businesses and investors, who put their investment plans on hold, were demanding gas supply to their new industries for long.
The government had, in fact, stopped giving gas connections to industries in July 2009. The suspension resulted in piling up huge number of applications. It also affected banks and entrepreneurs, who invested their money in setting up factories and were otherwise forced to run their plants on costly diesel generators in the absence of gas connections.
Meantime, it is disconcerting to note that the government has increased the electricity tariff by 2.97 per cent and that of gas by 26.29 per cent for retail customers, effective from September 01. Customers will pay Tk 600 and Tk 650 per month for single gas-burner and double burners respectively.
Due to such hikes, mostly the common people will have to bear the outcomes of rise in the government expenditure. If the government continues to encourage rental power plants instead of large plants, subsidy for electricity will go up. If the subsidy for power production goes up, the businesses and the common people have nothing to do but pay.
What is annoying is that instead of cutting cost of production and miscellaneous expenses of the state-owned power companies and the rental plants, the government is burdening the industries and the common man to bear the brunt of the tariff hikes.
All said and done, the government's decision to establish NSW as a one-stop platform for businesses for completing all kinds of business procedures online is most welcome. Its latest decision to give new connections to the industries is also deemed wise. However, recent hikes in power and gas tariffs do not truly reflect its sincerity to promote business in the country.
In the circumstances, the government, businesses and all stakeholders concerned should take combined and coordinated efforts to rationalise the cost of doing business in Bangladesh, paving the way for its rapid industrialisation.  
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