The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) has made the obtaining of building permits and the certificates of completion of construction easier by amending the online requirements for the process.
The amendments, which are also meant to improve and develop the electronic system, will come into effect on February 1.
In a report Monday, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) said the MME announced the introduction of new amendments to the electronic system for getting building permits and certificates of completion of construction, as well as procedures for service delivery, in co-ordination and co-operation with the General Directorate of Civil Defence at the Ministry of Interior, Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) and the Public Works Authority (Ashghal).
Among other features, the amendments include incorporating the application for connection to the sewage network into the building permits system and abolition of inspection by telecommunications service providers at the stage of building completion. Also, the construction completion fee payment procedure has been incorporated into the procedures in order to request for a certificate for the same.
The ministry explained that the new amendments include making the procedure of applying for a site board a part of the building permit, so that the engineering firm, designer or owner submits one application for a building permit, including a licence for the site board.
The amendments also include the incorporation of the survey report issuance procedure within the building permits system. This report aims to place markings indicating the boundaries of the land for which a licence or building completion certificate will be issued, determining the co-ordinates of the land and ensuring the implementation of the licensed buildings within the limits of the investor's land, the QNA report states.
Further, the new amendments include obtaining the survey report by submitting an application through the website of the building permit system, so that it is issued through the system for each new licence or building completion certificate, and the cost of the survey report is also included in the building permit fees or building completion certificate.
Among the new amendments is the abolition of inspection by Kahramaa, at the stage of completion of construction for warehouses only, which used to be mandatory for issuing construction completion certificates and for connecting the service.
Kahramaa's delivery of services to the new building does not necessitate inspection by the institution, but the responsibility of conforming to the building plans is among the tasks of the supervising engineer and the contractor executing the project.
The amendments also include the inclusion of payment of fees for the delivery Kahramaa services in the first invoice for warehouses only.
The MME had launched the electronic system for building licences on February 10, 2014. It was to be inclusive of all transactions and procedures required for the construction, so that the system included all relevant authorities and required approvals in the State to complete the issuance of the building permit. This was done so that the consultant and the property owner had a unified site to complete the building permits process without the need to get it reviewed by the municipalities.
The electronic system works to facilitate transactions for all parties involved in the process of issuing building permits - from studying the application according to its terms of reference in parallel so that the transactions are completed as quickly as possible without prejudice, to the accuracy of the study, the report adds.
The ministry is constantly developing the electronic system for building permits to achieve a qualitative shift in the performance of its services within the electronic transformation plan in all areas of government services in the country.
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