Electricity for businesses in 28 days
To improve the business environment of the country, the Power Division has pledged to shorten the duration of giving electricity connection to commercial organisations to 28 days.
Acting secretary of the Power Division, Dr Ahmad Kaikaus, announced this at a workshop of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) in Bahubal of Habiganj district yesterday. Senior officials of different ministries took part in the workshop held at a resort.
A World Bank report on Business Environment Index disclosed that it takes 428.9 days, on average, to get a new electricity connection in Bangladesh. The money spent on it is equal to 2860.9 per cent of the average income, the report said.
Of the 190 countries on the index, Bangladesh ranked 176. All SAARC countries, except for the war-ravaged Afghanistan, were placed above Bangladesh.
This workshop was an eye-opener. Earlier, we did not understand the obstacles of doing business in the country. After the discussions and calculations explained in this workshop, we feel we can reduce the time for getting a new connection to 28 days. We will start working on it after returning to Dhaka, said Dr Ahmad Kaikaus.
The secretary, however, explained that these 28 days would be counted from the date of getting all necessary papers from the applicants. He urged the applicants to submit the papers early.
The executive chairman of BIDA, M Aminul Islam, welcomed the announcement of the acting secretary. We might see a positive change here, he said.
