Bangladesh Investment and Industrial Development Authority (BIIDA) will replace the Board of Investment (BoI) and Privatisation Commission (PC) under a merger scheme now being worked out at the official level.
Official sources confirmed the proposed name of the merged entity to the FE on Monday and said the draft law and work on other rules of business of the new organisation are at the final stage.
The five-member committee headed by an additional secretary of the Cabinet Division is working on the merger plan on instruction given by the Prime Minister in April this year. It held the latest meeting on Monday to sort out the last minutes changes to the draft law and other rules of business.
One of the sources requesting not to be named said they want to create an organisation similar to one now in existence in Malaysia. The Malaysian organisation named as 'Malaysian Investment Development Authority' (MIDA) is a powerful apex body coordinating the country's efforts to harness foreign direct investment and funneling them to the industrialisation process.
In doing so, he said MIDA also coordinates and harmonises the trade and investment activities of all other government and private agencies bringing investment to the economy. It ensures quick services to clients, he added.
The source said the proposed BIIDA may have similar power and function to give registration to new investment proposals and provide one stop service to clients.
It will moreover coordinate investment requests with other organisations like Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA), Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) and such other bodies to find land and other utility services to them to set up new plants, the source said.
He said there is a strong opinion to build the new organisation on Malaysian model to meet the emerging challenges arising out of new interest of foreign investors to Bangladesh as a new investment destination. Its main focuses will be to give quick and efficient services to foreign and local investors removing all bureaucratic hassles.
The source said organisations like BoI, BEPZA, PC, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) operate under the Prime Minister's Office but there is a slow down in the chain of command resulting in inefficiency and their ineffectiveness.
Some committee members believe that BIIDA may be placed under a senior minister like the one in Malaysia or Japan to bring dynamism in the functioning of the new organisation.
Other ministers may also sit in the steering committee to ensure efficient service delivery to clients. Another source said the power and function of the new organisation are still debated and whatever it may be, existing organisations will be further strengthened with the merger.
He said the draft law is yet to be finalised. Once the merger proposal is completed, it will be placed before the Cabinet Secretary for further action.
It will be then sent to Prime Minister's Office and later to the Ministry of Public Administration for opinion. The draft law will also go to the Ministry of Law for vetting before placing it before the cabinet for approval. Parliament will then enact the law to pave the way of merger and create the new organisation, he said.
