Karachi, January 16, 2019 (PPI-OT): Four provincial government departments signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to launch Sindh Business Registration Portal to facilitate entrepreneurs to complete all their registration procedure online in real. The signing ceremony was attended by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Minister, Minister Labour Murtaza Baloch, Minister Local Government Saeed Ghani, CM Advisor on Law Murtaza Wahab, Senior Economist World Bank Mr Amjad Bashir, Chairman P and D Mohammad Waseem, concerned provincial secretaries and among others.
Speaking on the occasion Sindh Chief Minister said that he was thankful to World Bank for helping to improve the investment climate in the province. He added that the Sindh government and the World Bank partnership has been re-energized and “we are working together in many spheres of the economy to better living standards for all,” he said.
Mr Shah said that remarkable progress has been achieved so far in reforming business climate as well and the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ project that his government has embarked on improving our global ranking. He said that the process of automation of all procedure of starting a business through Sindh Business Registration Portal is now at completion stage. He added that through the portal entrepreneurs would be able to complete all registration procedures required by different departments such as industries, labour, SESSI, FBR, NADRA and SECP online in real time.
Mr Shah disclosed that Sindh Building Control Authority has exempted three NOCs and reduced procedure to get permits from 15 to just seven. He added that the BoR was a major success story in Sindh. LARMIS has reduced the time to buy and register property by more than 90 percent. Under this project, 90 percent of the land records of all 29 district in the province have been computerized and verified by deputy commissioner of districts.
The chief minister said that SEPA has exempted low impact projects from approval and improved its services delivery timeline. “It is a significant step achieved in record time deregulate our business environment,” he said. He said that KWSB has simplified its procedures and improving their service delivery timelines by more than 50 percent. The commercial connections are now provided in 21 days as compared to 61 days previously.
Mr Shah said “going forward my government intends to introduce technology and quicker procedures to assist the investors,” he added “the result of our collective efforts will serve to make businesses grow faster and most importantly will drive entrepreneurship in Sindh.” He said that Sindh government was indeed committed to making Sindh an easy and most competitive business hub.
The chief minister disclosed that the Sindh government signed a financing agreement worth $100 million with World Bank for Sindh Solar Energy Project. “The project would introduce and showcase international best practice with renewable energy auctions, reduce the headline cost of solar development, create sustainable business models for potential replication, build institutional and private sector capacity, and identify opportunities for future renewable energy department that address issues of grid integration.
The Sindh government is committed to making the province of Sindh an easy and competitive investment hub in Pakistan. The Government of Sindh is pursuing a reform agenda to facilitate ease of business in the province. As part of the process of providing Ease of Doing Business to businessmen and investors in Sindh, the reforms include replacing outdated regulatory compliance requirements with complete and integrated automation of business registrations, building permits and approvals as well as extending online payments of related fees and charges. For this, the Sindh Business Registration Portal (SBRP) is in the pipeline, to be launched as a one-stop online regulatory approvals and inspection interface.
To achieve this goal, Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed on the 16thof January 2019 in Karachi at Chief Minister House, Sindh. These MoUs have been signed between the Investment Department of Government of Sindh and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Labour Department, Industries and Commerce Department and SESSI. The MoUs provide for an inter-department administrative framework for the operation of the SBRP.
SBRP’s design is aimed at automating the registrations with SESSI, Industries and Commerce Department, Labour Department, and also be integrated with the SECP. The portal will automate the registrations with SESSI, Industries, Labour and also be integrated with the SECP. Addressing the participants, CM Sindh spoke about the Government of Sindh’s goal of opening Sindh for business. To this end, the Government of Sindh has implemented more than 15 reforms which aimed at reducing procedural burden for businesses.
For more information, contact:
Press Secretary,
Chief Minister House, Sindh
Tel: +92-21-99202019(Ext: 336)
Website: www.cmsindh.gov.pk