Roadmap for the less travelled

• Govt. outlines plan to move into top 30 Doing Business Ranking by 2014

By Cheranka Mendis
The Government yesterday outlined the roadmap to up Sri Lanka’s ranking to number 30 in the Doing Business Ranking by 2014 from the current position of 89.

The plan highlights the need to reform operations in key institutions with the hopes of rectifying weaknesses indicated in each stage of business across sectors, developing a regular dialogue with the said institutions to assess improvements and other surrounding issues, conducting an awareness programme for local respondents to the World Bank to educate and update them on the latest happenings and improvements in doing business.
It also includes developing a reporting system for timely dissemination of improvements to the World Bank and arranging discussions with World Bank and International Financial Corporation (IFC) officials to clarify issues and verify information used for the annual ranking.
Addressing a seminar on ‘Improving Doing Business Ranking in Sri Lanka,’ the Central Bank’s Assistant Governor C.J.P. Siriwardena stated that based on the reforms that are in place and in line to be implemented, hitting 30 is an easy task. The State has already formed a five point strategic plan to achieve the targeted goal, he noted.
“We have already started a direct dialogue with IFC WB. Last time we conducted two teleconferences with the team in Washington to help develop the ranking,” he said.
The Government has also formed and proposed a set of medium term targets for the country, Siriwardena acknowledged. The eight point target proposal includes key areas that are analysed when measuring the country for the Doing Business Ranking. The Government hopes to reduce the number of days taken to start up a business from 35 days to seven, reduce the time and number of procedures in dealing with construction permits and registering a property as well as increase the strength of legal rights to get credit.
“We have also targeted the increasing of protection of investors, reducing the total tax rate from 105.2% (the rate given for 2012 in Sri Lanka) to 35% and to reduce the time period involved in imports and exports,” he said. “Most importantly we hope to cut back the number of days taken to enforce contracts from 1,318 days (three years and 33 weeks) to 300 days.”
With Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa digging into the various issues surrounding the medium term goals, it was stated that the 35 days taken to start up a business in Sri Lanka is likely to go down to a few days by end 2012.
The Company Registrar stated that investors could now collect all documents needed to open a bank account within three days. He stated that the body only takes one day to approve a name for a company while only two days are taken to register a company 95% of the time. “With the computerisation programme we are carrying out now, by end 2012 this would be cut down to one day,” he said.
A spokesperson from the Labour Department said that during the first nine months of the year, the department received 1,624 applications, out of which 1,381 were processed in a day, 138 in two days, 48 in three days and 58 within a week.
“As at now we can process the applications that come in to the main office within a few hours. Out of Colombo it takes approximately a week, which would be brought down to a day by end 2012.”
On various delays at the CMC where investors and businessmen must waste days visiting different departments such as fire and rescue, drainage, waste management, water and electricity, solid waste management, traffic impact assessment, etc., to gain approval on different fronts of the project, Rajapaksa requested an implementation of a system where all or most of these departments are brought into one place.
He requested the Water Board to present a map of the water network to the CMC and UDA to enable faster connections and lesser questions in the entire process.
On actions that are to be implanted to achieve the above targets, he stated that the Government hoped to reduce the time taken to issue EPF and ETF numbers, which should be done by June 2012 with the Governor requesting the EPF Department to make it an online solution and reduce the time taken by the CMC to issue various permits and certificates.
Even though Sri Lanka is listed as one of the fastest improving countries in the ranking, the country should not forget that other countries too are looking at upgrading their status, Minister Rajapaksa said.
He noted that while Sri Lanka holds the fort for the world’s second best improvement in ranking, the country must continue its good work and implement policies that will make it possible to climb up the ranking ladder as planned.
The plan is for Sri Lanka to move up to the 70th position next year, 50th the year after and finally reach 30 by 2014.