BOI to present roadmap for reduction of requirement of licenses under PRMI

ISLAMABAD: The Board of Investment (BOI) will present a roadmap in collaboration with the World Bank for reduction of requirement of unnecessary licenses under its Pakistan Regulatory Modernization Initiative (PRMI).

To eradicate undue impediments in the way of small businesses in the form of licenses and other requirements, the initiative will help the small traders in doing businesses. The requirement of 74 licenses has already been abolished, which will benefit the small businesses.

As a part of local governments' reforms as well as facilitation of small and vulnerable segments of the society, the prime minister tasked the BOI to come up with a roadmap to reduce the requirement of unnecessary licenses. Under the proposed roadmap, the local governments will abolish all the licenses and replace them with a single digital registration of small businesses. However, the food outlets would be subject to inspections and licenses.

Drastic measures will reduce the authority of government officials and minimize the incidents of exploitation of small businessmen. The consultation process with provincial governments of the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa completed, which have shown their readiness to introduce the new measures at the grassroots level.

The board has observed that complicated license system creates problem for general stores, cloth shops and naan shops, which will immediately be done away with. The system of more than 150 licenses required at district level for starting business activities will also be done away with, and process for required licenses should be made easier, and an automated system should be adopted by using the latest technology.

At present, around 150 kinds of different licenses are required in the existing system in different metropolitan corporations, municipal corporations, town committees and other departments for business, and this system is replete with corruption and common complaint is of harassment.