Bandar Seri Begawan (The Brunei
Times/ANN) - The e-Government flagship project, the Business Licensing
System (BLS), is aiming to be functional by the middle of this year, giving
applicants a streamlined process when applying for a new business, translating
to an improvement in the Sultanate's Ease of Doing Business (EODB) rank.
Government officials, Vascco
Taman, Mak Hon Sheng, and Ya-Anenawati Hj Md Yusuf, of the BLS Secretariat,
briefed The Brunei Times on the current status of the project, and are hopeful
that the project can be in service this year.
"Currently, the BLS is in
the design stage and covers three out of the nine indicators in Ease of Doing
Business (EODB), which are: Starting a Business, Dealing with Construction
Permit and Getting Electricity," Vascco explained.
Vascco, the project manager for
the BLS, said that this new system will provide an "online single
window", where applicants only need to visit one place that is related to
business licensing applications
"Besides that, the BLS
will provide integrated forms; information hubs; a consolidated payment and
standardised processes; parallel processing; easy, 24/7 access; and greater
transparency," said Vascco.
Currently, without the BLS,
applicants who wish to start a business has to go to 13 different agencies
(should their business require all the different licenses), to get each
individual license.
Mak, who is a member of the
secretariat, said that if a license is required to operate a restaurant it will
be listed down as well in the system.
"Example, if a person
wants to start a restaurant business, the system will show all the required
licenses, like the AGC (Attorney General Chambers) for the restaurant's name,
Labour Department for the workers, the need for a Halal Certification and so
on," said Mak.
Several of the 13 agencies
include Land Transport Department; Halal Certification from the Ministry of
Religious Affairs; Labour License from the Department of Labour; Department of
Water Services; Department of Electrical Services; and Miscellaneous Licenses
from the Ministry of Home Affairs, to name a few.
"With the BLS, they can
simply apply online or at our new Business Facilitation Centres (BFC), which
will be available at all four districts, where everything can be done at one
place," he said.
Vascco further added: "Our
objective with the BLS is to reduce the overall timeframe taken to complete a
business licensing application and improve the overall TPOR (Client
Charter)."
The BLS also hopes to eliminate
any redundant and inefficient internal processes, and to establish an online
medium for business licensing application.
Another example Vascco gave:
"If you go to the ABCI (Authority of Building Control and Construction
Industry (ABCI), they have their own procedures which varies from the Municipal
Board, but has the same purpose."
"With our study, we are
trying to streamline this process, so applicants don't get confused and uses a
standardise process," he said.
Secretariat member,
Ya-Anenawati added: "For an Application of Planning Permit, if it is in
Municipality jurisdiction, the application must go to the Municipal Board, or
if it is outside of it, then it will go through the Town and Country
Planning."
The BLS, when implemented, will
eliminate the need to solve this, as it is intelligent enough to identify where
the application is to be sent.
With regards to a more
convenient process, Ya-Anenawati gave another example, saying if an applicant
has to do 12 different visits to get a license, and go from say Muara, then the
agriculture office, then back to Muara, and to customs, it's a tedious process.
"With BLS, the system will
do the routing for them, so applicants will just apply online and collect the
licenses when it's ready at BFC," she said.
This project is also aiming to
be transparent towards potential businessmen, promising applicants the ability
to track and view what the status of their current application is at.
"If it is rejected, and
they wish to enquire for more information, they can still be informed about the
application," he said.
The proposed BLS process will
go as follows: An Applicant or Qualified Person applies to the BLS; then makes
online payment; which will then be submitted to the respective departments;
followed by an internal process to update the BLS status; where the final
application outcome is notified to the respective applicant either by mail,
e-mail and SMS; that allows a notification to the applicant to collect the
physical license at the BFC.
Currently, there are 30
licenses from the various departments under the BLS and the number is expected
to continue rising in the future.
The BLS is a collaborative
project championed by the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources and
Ministry of Home Affairs, and involves various different government and
non-government agencies.
Goh De No in Bandar Seri
Begawan/The Brunei Times | ANN
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