'Government to create enabling business environment'

Secretary Planning & Development Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said on Saturday that the government aims to create an enabling business environment in the province through its reform agenda. He was talking to a two-member delegation - Herve Kaddoura, Private Sector Specialist and Albert Nogues, Operations Analyst from Washington - who arrived at Lahore for a four day visit with the agenda to collect data regarding various reforms completed by the provincial government under the Doing Business reforms agenda.
The government of the Punjab has taken great strides to implement meaningful reforms to facilitate the businesses. The ease of doing business reform agenda at the provincial level is being driven by the planning and development department in collaboration with multiple implementing departments. Under this ambitious reform agenda, the government of Punjab has implemented around 15 different reforms in the areas of construction permits, property registration, contract enforcement and business registration during the last six months.
The provincial focal person on the subject Iftikhar Ali Sahoo gave a detailed overview of the reforms successfully implemented and acknowledged the efforts of all the implementing agencies. He emphasized that substantial outcome has been achieved; however, there is still a long way to go.
The World Bank team appreciated the efforts of the government on implementation of the reform agenda. Every year, the World Bank data verification and collection team visits a few selected countries to verify the reforms implemented.
World Bank's flagship doing business report measures aspects of business regulation and their implications for firm establishment and operations across 190 economies. It provides quantitative indicators on regulation for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.