Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has approved the new strategy for Building Permit Procedures Development in Dubai. The strategy aims to ensure a faster acquisition of building permits from the concerned government entities to assist investors in the real estate sector. 

The new policy, setup by Dubai’s Committee for Building Permit Procedures Development, aims to enhance Dubai’s positioning as a city where the lively building and construction sector plays an important role as key component of the economic development.

The Dubai Government reported that the strategy is built upon three pillars, first developing & streamlining building permit procedures, then unifying systems & requirement, while the last one provides a “one stop shop” where all the procedures and building permits processes in Dubai can be completed. 

Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality of Engineering and Planning, and Head of the Committee Daoud AbdulRahman Al Hajri said that the new strategy reflects the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, aiming to enhance customers’ happiness & save them time & efforts to create a  stimulating environment that promotes Dubai’s infamous investment climate.

Steps for obtaining a Building Permit & Building Completion Certificate 

These can all be submitted online, and all forms can be found on the Government of Dubai website:

Private Villas

• Obtain Building Permit from Building Department  
• Request & Receive Inspection of Foundations before casting Concrete
• Request & Receive Inspection of Floors' Slabs before casting Concrete
• Final Check & Issue Completion Certificate

Multi Storey and Public Buildings

• Obtain Building Permit from Building Department / DM
• Request & Receive Inspection of Foundations before casting Concrete
• Request & Receive Inspection of Floors' Slabs before casting Concrete
• Request & Receive Inspection for Metal Frames
• Request & Receive Completion Certificate 

Minimizing the Permits steps and timing
The first pillar of the strategy aims to minimize the required time to acquire permits by simplifying the procedure to just five steps. The involved public authorities can conduct all the inspection tasks through unified teams, while all the concerted departments are required to reply to all the submitted applications within three days for each of the five steps if the consultant & the contactor meet all the requirements. This is a record time to complete the permit procedures, providing a new level customer-service.

Unifying building systems & requirements  
In order to provide a set of aligned procedures for the second stage, the Committee is currently working on putting a unified building regulation for Dubai to provide a comprehensive guideline for the customers. The Committee will also register the contracting and consulting companies.
 
One stop shop for all permit procedures
The strategy focuses on digital & electronic development by keeping up to date with the smart transformation in all Dubai Government’s entities & departments. It will develop a set of smart electronic systems to build a central unified scheme to provide smart services through one window and on the phone, where customers (consultants, contractors, owners and developers) can follow up on the status of their permit request, pay fees and insurance and book appointments. The ‘one stop shop’ will be linked to Dubai Building Permit System, which will be developed to include the requirements of all the authorities involved in the permitting process in Dubai.

Dubai’s Committee for Building Permit Procedures Development was formed earlier this year in order to leverage the level of customer satisfaction though providing high quality services in building permit requests, and insure speedy processing of building permitting procedures, and enhance Dubai’s competitiveness in the related international reports.   

See also The Dubai 2020 Urban Masterplan

The Committee includes

• Dubai Municipality
• Roads & Transport Authority
• Dubai Electricity & Water Authority
• The Department of Economic Development
• Dubai Civil Aviation Authority
• Investment Corporation of Dubai
• Meraas Holding
• Dubai International Financial Centre
• Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation.

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