A one-day workshop on Service Improvement had been organized for Metropolitan, Municipal and Finance Officers, with a call on them to remove all bottlenecks in service delivery to ensure efficiency and also attract investors. Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, Western Regional Minister, who opened the workshop, added that in order to assist the private sector to lead the development of the country, "all bureaucracy and time wasting in the civil service must be removed to save private businesses time and money". The workshop, funded and sponsored by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, formed part of governments support to implement a more conducive trade investment climate which would ease the burden on the private sector in doing business with government at both the national and local level. It is to ensure reduction in cost, eliminate various administrative bottlenecks and simplify local government license and permit procedures at the local level. Mr Aidoo noted that to ensure the strategy worked, the ministry constituted a team to undertake an assessment of the processes of Fee Fixing Resolution, Business Operating Permits and Building Development Permits process at the District Assemblies. He added that the realization of the strategy hinges on improved service delivery, "I therefore charge all districts to endeavour to establish client service centres to accelerate the process". Mr Chris Azumah, a Director at the Local Government Ministry, said the proposed service delivery centres was based on the "One Stop Shop' concept and provides for the concentration of relevant information on business start-up procedures in a particular locality. He said the District Assembly Service Improvement Programmed (DASIP) is an embodiment of the various means to which local government could reduce both the time and cost it took to provide service to the business community. "The DASIP ensures that assemblies provide a more coordinated and customer oriented service delivery to the community in they operate". Source: GNA