Malawi’s Ministry of Industry and Trade has invited expressions of interest from consulting firms for the development of an automated system for the issuing of permits at the country’s Department of Immigration.
The assignment, which is aimed at improving the agricultural business enabling environment, will be financed by the World Bank, the European Union, the Norwegian government, the British Department for International Development, Irish Aid and USAid through the Agricultural Sector Wide Approach Support Project.
“One of the important areas affecting the agribusiness environment and agricultural commercialisation in Malawi is the lengthy and costly process of obtaining business residence permits (BRPs) and temporary employment permits (TEPs). Most foreign investors struggle to obtain BRPs and TEPs partly because there is little automation in the system and the records are still manual. If Malawi is to attract foreign direct investment in the agriculture sector, especially in commercial farming and agricultural processing, there is need to improve and automate the permit issuance system. Improvement of the system will enable investors in the agriculture sector to settle in quickly and to bring in expertise that is currently lacking in the sector,” says the Ministry.
The systemis expected to reduce the time it takes to issue BRPs, TEPs and permanent residence permits.
The deadline for the submission of expressions of interest was April 22.