BEZA to launch One-Stop Service on Oct 21

FT ONLINE

Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) is set to launch its One-Stop Service on Monday with 11 categories of licenses and approvals aiming to facilitate investments in the country.

Investors will get services like visa recommendation, investment clearance, work permit issue, permit for local sales and purchase as well as approvals for export, import and project registration from a single online platform at the initial stage.

The number of services will continue to increase in the coming days as all required services for investment will be provided through OSS by June next year, said a statement on Friday.

According to the data available with BEZA, investors have so far received 2,387 import permits, 494 export permits and 116 visa supports through its OSS which was launched late last year on a trial basis.

In the future, an investor will get services like approval for local purchase and sales, utility connection, building design, fire security and environment and customs clearance, the statement added.

Usually, an investor has to visit different offices for receiving approvals before establishing an industrial unit.

BEZA took the initiative to enact a law to attract foreign investments in February 2015. Later, the government passed the One-stop Service Act 2018.

Under the Act, BEZA prepared a guideline in November 2018 to launch OSS.

BEZA has set up the OSS system at its headquarters in the capital with the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

An investor can get licence and approval through an automated OSS portal at https://ossbeza.org/.

When OSS will be made fully functional, investors will get 123 types of approvals and 27 categories of licences at one place within a short time.