Résumé of experiences. One year of operation of Loja de Negocios Inhambane and Balcão Único Zambésia

by Philipp Johannsen, Mozambique, April 2003

Introduction

In the last years potential investors in Mozambique were confronted with a public sector environment characterized by inefficiency, lack of transparency and corruption, apparently worst in the relative dynamic economic areas as trade and tourism.

The Balcão Único (BaU) and the Loja de Negocios (LdN) were both established in 2001 as individual initiatives of the respective provincial governments of Zambézia and Inhambane Province to alleviate this situation and to streamline the process of licensing and setting up commercial enterprises.

The two entities operate within the same legal framework and apply existing national legislation, with only minor administrative differences in terms of required forms, time-periods and fees, especially regarding the regulations applied on municipal level.

In both cases the main objective is to increase transparency and efficiency by offering proponents the possibility to interact with a limited number of people in one single office without duplicating existing administrative procedures.

Institutional and administrative setup

At the time of initiating the activities the provincial governments of Zambézia and Inhambane were both faced with similar budget restraints as there were no earmarked funds available. Therefore UNIDO and GTZ supported the initiatives in the two provinces respectively with technical and material assistance. This was conducted in the form of two completely independent processes, with some institutional exchange and coordination between the organizations, governments and the national investment promotion center CPI.

The direct administrative subordination of the one-stop-shops under the governors offices can be seen as an indicator for the importance the two provincial governments devote to these new institutions and should help safeguarding sustainable local ownership of the projects.

In both cases it is the staffs responsibility to inform proponents about necessary forms, licenses, applied fees and regulations and to forward the complete proposals to the responsible municipalities, provincial directorates or, if required, to the respective national ministries.

The BaU is managed by an executive director as a long-term consultant and administered by three additional full time staff. These civil servants belong to key provincial departments and are detailed permanently to the one-stop-shop.

In Inhambane a different and more ambitious setup was chosen for the LdN, where 12 officials from all provincial departments and the local city council work in an alternating shift-system. The idea behind this approach was the objective to create an open and transparent working environment in which civil servants from various departments would cooperate directly with each other.

Their understanding of the functioning of the different provincial directorates, their requirements and administrative structures has improved significantly in the course of one year. Due to the shift-system and part-time work-schedule of the staff their identification with the LdN is not as substantial as is the case in Zambézia where the three government officials work exclusively for the BaU. The flux of information between the 12 civil servants and the commitment to customer service is also not as coherent as in the much more confined environment of the BaU.

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Challenges

The before mentioned institutional shortcomings, administrative barriers and general lack of entrepreneurial-friendly attitude and professional commitment as a legacy of socialist and centralized government have not disappeared, as was to be expected.

Especially the prevailing interpretation of many provincial directors and their technical staff that the new institutions would take away a significant fraction of their influence, responsibility and, last but not least, income opportunities still exists in many areas.

This can also be said in respect to some of the recently (1998) founded municipalities in the project area, which try to secure as many autonomous decision-making powers as possible from provincial and national government's influence.

The lack of transparency within the public sector as well as ignorance of existing legislation (of civil servants and investors alike), especially regarding the crucial laws governing land tenure and title rights, remain a serious obstacle for development.

Current situation and outlook

After one year of operation the experiences from Zambézia and Inhambane indicate that in both cases the set objective has been achieved to a reasonable degree.

The average period of time to register and start a business has clearly been significantly reduced and allegations about rampant corruption and gross negligence on behalf of government officials involved in the process have diminished.

The commitment of the governors of Zambézia and Inhambane and the fact that a number of other provincial governments have shown their interest in establishing similar institutions indicate the countrywide demand for sustainable capacity building based on close cooperation of all the stakeholders involved to establish common criteria and structures.

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