Sabay Osja Co Ltd became the first company to apply for a licence via the government’s online business registration platform, also known as the “Single Portal”, in its second phase, according to the Ministry of Economy and finance.
The company submit its application for an information technology (IT) services licence on September 1 – the day Phase II launched, which received preliminary approval the next day, the ministry said, adding that the firm received a digital certificate from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications on September 6.
Sabay Osja CEO Ear Uy affirmed that business registration through the Single Portal saves time and money. He told The Post: “This system makes it easy for us to complete things on our own and promptly. My company created a new user account and new registration request, and the beauty of it all is that the fees are all accepted.
“I applied on September 1, and a few days later, we were able to download the certificate to officially use immediately – this system is really easy.”
The ministry deployed Phase II of the Single Portal on September 1 with the addition of four new government agencies, adding more classes of business licences and permits available for application on the platform, with an emphasis on priority sectors, in a bid to support national economic growth during the Covid-19 crisis.
These agencies are the Non-Bank Financial Services Authority’s Real Estate Business and Pawnshop Regulator (REBPB), and the industry, tourism and telecoms ministries, Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth noted during the launch ceremony.
He said the updated Single Portal system aims to improve the business and investment environment in order to enhance Cambodia’s competitiveness, and is tailored to economic sustainability amid Covid-19, as part of a wider push to digitalise public services.
“The launch Single Portal Phase II clearly epitomises the Royal Government’s reforms to improve the business and investment environment in Cambodia, which have achieved the planned results,” he said.
In Phase I, six ministries and state-run institutions were integrated into the business registration portal, which was launched on June 15, 2020 by the government.
Those were the finance, interior, commerce and labour ministries as well as the General Department of Taxation (GDT) and Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC).
The finance ministry earlier alluded to the possibility of the Ministry of Health or General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia joining the Single Portal in the future, but it remains unclear if plans to integrate them were postponed or scrapped altogether.
As of August 24, the number of companies registered through Single Portal was 7,715, with a total capital of nearly $3 billion, according to the finance minister.
Pornmoniroth pointed out that the construction sector made up the lion’s share of registered capital, at 25.32 per cent, with the automotive sector – including importers, exporters, buyers, sellers and repair shops – ranking second, at 16.44 per cent.
The next three on the list were real estate (15.53 per cent), manufacturing (14.3 per cent), and finance and insurance (8.22 per cent), he noted.
The Single Portal can be accessed at registrationservices.gov.kh.
