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https://dailyasianage.com/news/208499/hurdles-to-acquiring-rajuk-and-cda-permits

Published: 12:54 AM, 08 December 2019

Hurdles to acquiring RAJUK and CDA permits

M S Siddiqui The Ease of Doing business study tracks the procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse-including obtaining necessary the licenses and permits, submitting all required notifications, requesting and receiving all necessary inspections and obtaining utility connections. Doing Business also records all procedures required for a business in the construction industry to build a warehouse, along with the time and cost to complete each procedure. In addition, the Dealing with Construction Permits indicator measures the building quality control index, evaluating the quality of building regulations, the strength of quality control and safety mechanisms, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certification requirements. The building quality control index is based on six indices-the quality of building regulations, quality control before, during and after construction, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certifications indices. Doing Business also records procedures for obtaining connections for utilities like electricity, water and sewerage. Construction regulations can help protect the public from faulty building practices. But to do so they need to be clear as well as thorough. Where regulations lack clarity, there is a risk of confusion among both builders and authorities, which can lead to unnecessary delays, disputes and uncertainty. And if regulatory procedures are too complicated or costly, builders tend to proceed without a permit. Where informal construction is rampant, the public can suffer. By some estimates 60-80% of building projects in developing economies are undertaken without the proper permits and approvals. This year Doing Business continues to measure efficiency in construction permitting while also adding a measure of quality. The building quality control index assesses both quality control and safety mechanisms across 189 economies in six main areas: transparency and quality of building regulations; quality control before, during and after construction; liability and insurance regimes; and professional certifications. Days to obtain a construction-related permit in Bangladesh was reported at 53.4 in 2013, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. The collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in April 2013, which claimed more than1,000 lives, also resulted from a lack of the necessary quality control mechanisms. The building was constructed on a pond without authorization to be on one, then converted without permission from commercial to industrial use, then extended three floors beyond what was specified in the original building permit. Moreover, the builders used substandard construction materials, which led to an over load of the building's structure exacerbated by vibrations from its generators.

The construction permits of relevant authorities are complicated, non-transparent and time consuming and full of corrupt practices. Bangladeshi businessmen have to go through 11 procedures to get a construction permit. Those are sum up by World Bank: (1) The first procedure is to obtain cadastral survey map. It needs to be taken from the Land Records Department. It takes 3 days and 25$ to complete. (2) The company needs to obtain zoning clearance. It takes 45 days and does not cost any charge. (3) The next step is to obtain project clearance from local authority. An application needs to be presented along with the project proposal and design plans. It takes 3 days in does not cost any charge. (4) After that, the company needs to obtain a project clearance from the Environment Department. A small investigation of the project might be needed. This takes about 30 days and costs about 80 dollars. (5) The fifth procedure is to obtain a project clearance and building permit Rajdhani Unnayan Kortripokkho (RAJUK). This procedure takes about 105 days (3-5 months) and costs 375 US dollars. (6) The next procedure is receiving excavation inspection. It takes just 1 day to finish this procedure but sometimes this procedure is delayed a little because of the shortage of manpower. It does not cost anything. (7) After that, getting the foundation inspection will be needed. It takes 1 day and no charges are applied. (8) After that, tax investigators will check out the fully prepared warehouse. It takes 1 day and the annual tax bill will be sent after a month. It does not need any charge. (9) Requesting a telephone connection. It takes 1 day and costs 50 dollar. (10) After that, the telephone inspector will connect the telephone line to the building. It takes 7 days and does not cost anything. (11) The last procedure is getting a water and sewerage connections. It takes 10 days and costs approximately 375 dollars. Bangladesh government is also aware of the problems and took decision to reduce the procedure and set the time frame to provide those services. National Committee for Monitoring & Implementation of Doing Business had a decision (as appeared in the web-site of Rajuk) that RAJUK would make effective the One Stop Service in automated by measures to be taken for massive campaign after reducing the time frame to provide different services by RAJUK to Dhaka City within March, 2019. Ministry of Housing and Public Works would ensure providing construction permit in automated system in all zone offices of RAJUK, Dhaka and Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) within 31 December, 2018. Functions regarding Construction Permit should be accomplished by establishing interlink of RAJUK and CDA with One Stop Service of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority with in stipulated time. RAJUK would make effective the One Stop Service in automated system and implementation of One Stop Service of CDA should be ensured by next 31 December, 2018. Ministry of Housing and Public Works would send the list to Bangladesh Investment Development Authority(BIDA) in every six months by collecting the report from RAJUK and CDA according to table prepared by Bangladesh Investment Development Authority. These should be formalize through amend the Dhaka City Building (construction, development, conservation and eviction) Rules, 2018 within March, 2019. The reforms are (a) decision was taken to disseminate gazette notification within next February, 2019 that there is no need of any environment certificate for the building up to 9 stories and to provide relevant services free of cost.(b) to provide the Environment certificate rapidly for the building of more 9 stories, Ministry of Housing and Public Works and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change would correct the timeframe to provide environment certificate after joint discussion.

RAJUK and CDA would take measure to receive application in online system and if there remain any error in the application submitted online or offline, they would inform the applicant within 24 hours through e-mail or letter. Ministry of Housing and Public Works would implement 12 process instead of 16 process within next February, 2019 and publish it in newspapers after issuing gazette notification; Ministry of Housing and Public Works would ensure 150 days of time frame instead of 281 to provide complete construction permit and would collect feedback from the beneficiaries and inform it to Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA). Decisions on process, time and reducing fees would be included to Dhaka City Building (construction, development and eviction) Rules, 2008 within next March, 2019. But the decision are yet to be implemented. Civil Defense division of Ministry of Home will determine the strategy to provide Fire License within 30 days instead 90 days for Warehouse Low Risk. Time and category revising in Environment Conservation Rule, 1997 should be accomplished within next 15 January, 2019 for providing service within the time mentioned in concerned rule of Environment Conservation Rule, 1997 would be ensured and steps to be taken to establish inter-connection of One Stop Service of Environment Department with 'One Stop Service' of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority. Ministry of Environment and Forest would issue a circular that there is no need of environment NOC for Commercial and Industrial Warehouse which are not multistoried. The team of BIDA and Ministry of Commerce would finalize after joint review other issues of Housing and Public Works Ministry for Ease of Doing Business. Not only the regulation and permission, beyond good regulations, an effective inspection system is also critical in protecting public safety. Without an inspection system in place, there is no mechanism to ensure that buildings comply with proper safety standards, increasing the chances of structural defects. And as a first step, having technical experts review the proposed plans before construction even begins can reduce the risk of structural failures later on. The quality control during construction is vital to ensuring the safety of a building. It also helps in identifying possible defects as they occur. Economies use different types of inspection systems. Ease of Doing business reports that forty-six economies do not involve a government agency at all but instead allow a supervising engineer or firm to take responsibility for ensuring the safety of the building. Twenty-three of these countries allow the building company to rely on an in-house engineer to supervise construction, sixteen of them require the building company to hire an external supervisor or firm, and seven countries require supervision by both an in-house engineer and an external engineer. Many other economies have a mixed system, requiring the use of an in-house or external supervising engineer while also having a government agency conduct its own inspections. The practice of having an in-house engineer conduct inspections during construction is most common in Europe and Central Asia (used in 73% of economies)and East Asia and the Pacific (56%). Requirements to hire an external supervising engineer or firm to conduct inspections are not common, including among economies in Europe and Central Asia and the OECD high-income group. Beyond causing confusion about how to proceed, construction regulations that are unclear and overly complicated can also increase opportunities for corruption. Analysis of World Bank Enterprise Survey data shows that the share of firms expecting to give gifts in exchange for construction approvals is correlated with the level of complexity and cost of dealing with construction permits.

The writer is a legal economist