Getting water to be measured in ease of doing business

Getting water has been added to the list of indicators being monitored by Barbados as it targets the Top 50 in the Doing Business Index, Minister of Economic Affairs and Investment Marsha Caddle has revealed.

The new “Getting Water” indicator is not a part of the global Doing Business ranking but has been added to the Barbados reform process on the recommendation of Caddle, whose ministry is responsible for coordinating the business reforms. The indicator was added based on feedback from the planning and building permit process.

The World Bank Doing Business project measures the impact of business regulations on local firms in 190 economies and selected cities. Barbados has been slipping steadily in the index. It is currently ranked 129 out of 190 countries,

She explained: “There is quite a distance from planning approval to building completion to (the) occupation of a property. We realized that our work does not end when a planning decision is provided, and there were other parts of the regulatory processes that were holding people back.

“That’s why the new amendment to the Planning Act includes a one-stop-shop. So along with construction permits, we are also aiming to improve the time for getting electricity and water connections.”

Caddle made the disclosure as she addressed the launch of the Barbados Water Supply Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project, which is to be implemented by the Barbados Water Authority. It is funded by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Latin American Development Bank (CAF).

She said: “We talk a lot about changing the doing business environment, and we may feel that that is only about big business and commerce. But the doing business environment is in many ways about the basic purpose of why we as Government are here: to ensure that basic social, goods and services are delivered to Barbadians and those who live here such that people can be their best, productive selves without having to worry about something as basic as the supply of water.”

She announced that a Cabinet sub-committee and a private sector committee on Doing Business have set the target of being in the top 50 within five years or sooner.

“Delivery teams” have been identified and have begun work to drive reforms in each area of the Doing Business Report, Caddle said. The teams include non-Governmental organisations and public officers led by the relevant ministers.

Thanking her ministry’s Public Investment Unit who worked with BWA to put the project together, the investment minister added that water and sanitation is a priority for Government’s Public Sector Investment Programme. She said that financing efforts would focus on this sector along with roads, schools and other critical social infrastructure.