Building permits will require less time

Urban Planning will resolve conflict of tasks

The Association of Building Traders protested a decree issued by the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation to regulate the work of technical inspection offices.

“The decree created a conflict in the tasks of the inspection office, the municipalities, and the Order of Engineers in issuing building permits, which has delayed the procedure,” said Elie Souma, President of the Associationof Building Traders.

The Association called for suspending the decree for one year, until it is amended. “The Urban Planning Bureau promised that the problem will be resolved shortly,” Souma said.

To obtain a construction license, a developer should now shuttle between the architecture office to sign the building map, the Order of Engineers to get a construction permit, the Urban Planning Bureau to get the maps reviewed, then the municipality, and finally the technical inspection office. “This whole procedure costs a lot of money, sometimes millions of dollars for some major Beirut developments,” Souma said.

There are only four technical inspection offices for all of the country. “We call for establishing 16 other offices in order to increase efficiency and speed up the process,” said Souma.