The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Works has launched its Electronic Plan Review and Inspection System designed to digitise the current paper-based permitting and inspection process.

The new system, officials said yesterday, will make a major difference in their ability to reduce the backlog of permits awaiting approval and cut down on the time it takes to process an application from start to finish.

This is a welcome upgrade as officials at the ministry are currently battling a backlog of permit applications

Around 1,000 to 1,500 applications are received by the ministry each year.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works Desmond Bannister said the wait time for a building permit was “significantly long”, especially when projects desperately need to move forward.

He said the new system will improve the country’s ease of doing business.

“The current time that it takes to process a building permit is estimated to be on average 55 to 75 days, that’s approximately eight to ten weeks,” he said. “That’s a significantly long time when a project needs to move forward and other approvals must be obtained from various ministries (and) agencies.

“I am pleased to advise that the implementation of the programme will permit all of the agencies involved in the building permit process to review drawings concurrently, which is expected to reduce the processing time of residential applications to 15 days, two weeks (and) the commercial applications to 30-days or one month on average.”

“As you all would be aware, it has been this government’s mandate to improve substantially the ease of doing business in the country. An important aspect, a part of achieving this objective is the improvement in the processing of construction permits, which I am advised has The Commonwealth of The Bahamas ranked 77th out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index 2020 on ‘Dealing with Construction Permits’. Anticipated reduction in the time it takes to receive a building permit is anticipated to improve our ranking significantly in this area, and thus result in greater economic activity.”

When the system is fully implemented, officials expect it will allow for real-time tracking of permit applications, GIS mapping for plan review and inspection processing, automate permit fee calculations and online payments, and improve customer service through the availability and tracking of the permit status.

Mr Bannister added six companies were issued requests for proposals to provide a solution for the system, and bids were returned from three companies. After a detailed review of the proposals, Tyler Technologies was declared the winning tender.

The go-live date is six months from yesterday’s launch.