Five new registration services added to Bida OSS

The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) yesterday announced the integration of five new services from the Directorate of Registration into its online One-Stop Service (OSS) platform, raising the total to 142 services across 47 agencies.

The newly added facilities include land purchase deeds, lease deeds, agreement deeds, advance (bayna) deeds, and power of attorney deeds with certified copies.

Speaking at the unveiling event, Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun, executive chairman of Bida, said digitalisation of services would remain ineffective unless manual procedures in government institutions were phased out.

"Awareness must also be raised among service recipients, as interest in using digital platforms remains relatively low," he added.

He said a pilot project will be rolled out later this year and from December 16, commercial land registration will be made fully online.

"Within the next one and a half years, entrepreneurs will be able to access all business-related services from a single platform," the Bida chairman said.

ASM Saleh Ahmed, senior secretary of the Ministry of Land, said the ministry had already digitised its services and was working to ensure completion of commercial land mutation within a week.

Md Liakat Ali Molla, secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, stressed the importance of transparency in service delivery and urged proper dissemination of information on service fees to prevent harassment and eliminate opportunities for middlemen.

Business leaders lauded the latest initiative, but voiced concerns about the continued bureaucratic hurdles.

Mohammed Amirul Haque, managing director of Premier Cement Mills, said land-related bottlenecks remained unresolved.

"Investors are still forced to shuttle between the land office and the deputy commissioner's office to obtain approvals for industrial land and factory set-up," he said.

Haque cast doubt regarding the initiative's success as land offices were unlikely to give up their "lucrative responsibilities" which he termed as a source of making money in unfair ways for the staff of the land offices.

Taskeen Ahmed, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), welcomed the integration, saying investors had long faced serious hassles in securing registration for commercial land required for industrialisation.

"This digital initiative will simplify procedures, reduce delays, and enhance transparency," Ahmed noted.

Asif Ibrahim, former chairperson of Business Initiative Leading Development (Build), has said the digitisation of Bida is pivotal to accelerating investment facilitation, improving the ease of doing business, and enhancing Bangladesh's global competitiveness.

He noted that building on Bida's OSS, a full digital transformation would mean paperless processes, seamless inter-agency integration, e-payments, e-signatures, investor self-service portals, and data-driven policymaking tools.

Such reforms, he added, would cut time and costs for investors, reduce bureaucratic delays, and align Bangladesh with global best practices in countries like Singapore and India.

"The challenge, however, lies in overcoming institutional resistance, addressing ICT and legal gaps, and ensuring strong cybersecurity. Without these, progress will remain slow," Ibrahim said.

He also outlined a phased roadmap for Bida's transformation: short-term automation, medium-term integration of AI and advanced systems, and long-term adoption of emerging technologies.

With sustained commitment, he said, Bida could evolve into a world-class digital investment facilitation agency capable of delivering on Bangladesh's growth ambitions.

Shah Mohammad Mahbub, executive member of Bida, Jiban Krishna Saha Roy, director general of Bida, Abu Mohammad Nurul Hayat Tutul, deputy director of Bida addressed the programme.