ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a committee to propose a strategy for improving the ease of doing business in Pakistan.

Sources said the committee would be headed by Aleem Khan, Minister for Investment, and all the provincial chief secretaries as well as Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh, Mukarm Jah Ansari member FBR, Imran Mohmand, DG (Reforms and Automation) FBR, CEO, Pakistan Single Window, Salman Ahmed, Ali Pervez Malik, and Rana Afzal as its members whereas, the secretary Board of Investment (BOI) has been made secretary of the committee.

The committee may co-opt any additional member(s) on a need basis.

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Terms of reference (ToRs), the Committee are to propose a plan for; (a) establishing an investment single window, leveraging ICT for integration of all investment related requirements (approvals, land allocation in SEZs, utilities connections, all federal and provincial regulatory requirements„ tax payments, etc.); (b) developing a single investor interface on the model of Pakistan Single Window (PSW), enabling investors to upload (eliminating paperwork) all the information required by regulatory authorities, utilities, zone authorities only once; (c) cleansing redundant and cumbersome regulatory requirements for investment to undo unnecessary licenses, permits, NOCs, permissions within one year; (d) improving Pakistan’s doing business environment to appear in top 10 economies in World Bank’s B-Ready Report within three years; and; harmonizing provincial regulations, processes for a uniform national level investment facilitation framework.

The committee must complete deliberations and present its report within 13 days.

The BoI will notify and provide secretarial support to the committee.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024