54 Institutions handling investor facilitation services placed under seven task forces

The Presidential Secretariat has placed 54 institutions that provide investor facilitation services under seven Task Forces on the directives of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said on Wednesday.

This was done in a bid to create a business-friendly environment in the country, by simplifying the processes involved, reducing the time taken, and making information readily available to increase efficiency, the PMD said.

The PMD said that the Task Forces have been given clear deliverables.

Among the task forces is the Task Force on Registering a Business, which focuses on legal reforms and operational improvements to facilitate business entry at the Registrar of Companies is the first among these task forces.

It said the Task Force is committed to delivering key outputs such as developing a digital signature system, and simplifying existing forms used by the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the PMD said.

Another task-force is the ‘Registering Property’ Task Force, which aims to improve the steps involved in land registration, required certificates, and related payments, the PMD said.

The Task Force for Registering Property is composed of seven institutions, including the Surveyor General’s Department, Colombo Municipal Council, Western Province Revenue Department, and Information & Communication Technology Agency, the PMD said.

The Task Force for Registering Property is committed to implementing the e-Land System to minimize the time, cost, and procedures involved in dealing with title searches, registering e-deeds, and obtaining building/street line certificates, the PMD said.

This Task Force has decided to initially concentrate on improving the Colombo area and will be establishing an online facility for title search and issuing folio extracts, establishing a system for online stamp duty opinions, developing a system to facilitate deed registration, preparing the Cadastral Plan and web publishing, and digitizing scanned old survey plans.