OHLGS- Thursday August 22, 2024: The Business Regulatory Reforms (BRR) Unit of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) in a Public-Private Dialogue and Knowledge Sharing Session has engaged Heads of Development Permit Institutions on Development Permit Administration in Ghana.
The dialogue session, among others, was to discuss the Regulatory Reforms Initiatives, the operational issues, challenges, and good practices in Development Permit Administration.
The Director of Administration (OHLGS), Ms. Golda Asante who delivered the welcome address on behalf of the Chief Director, Mrs. Felicia Dapaah Agyemang, expressed appreciation to the leadership of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), the Business Regulatory Reforms Unit and the Steering Committee of the Heads of Development Permit Institutions for their enormous contribution and sacrifices towards building an effective building permit administration in Ghana.
She said that the participation of the Heads of the Institutions in the dialogue programme was a testament to the collective commitment to ensure an efficient, transparent, and sustainable processes within the development permitting space.
Ms. Golda Asante said, the dialogue was an opportunity for participants to exchange ideas, challenge existing practices, and explore new approaches to enable them to deliver their mandate and foster a thriving and resilient permit system within the MMDAs. This she indicated would chart a fruitful course to achieve the objective of the BRR and, encouraged them to bring their insights, experiences, and expertise to bear and contribute towards the successful implementation of the BRR Reforms.
The challenges in the development permit space identified by the participants included: the confusion among Development Permit Institutions mandated by the law such as the Land Use and Spatial Planning Act 2016 (Act 925 ), the LGS Act (936), and the Building Regulation (LI2465), in the issuance of building permitting processes at the MMDAs, lack of professionals such as Structural Engineers, Architects, Service Engineers in the MMDAs to deliver specific technical services required, ineffective stakeholder consultations, lack of working logistics, among others.
To ensure resilience, innovation and sustainability in the building permit processes, participants recommended that, there was the need for all core professional institutions to be included in the step-by-step sequence of issuing building permit, ensure effective consultation among Institutions and stakeholders in the issuance of building permit for a vibrant, competitive and transparent processes that are conducive for business growth.
The Institutional Heads were from the Ministry of Local Government Decentralisation and Rural Development ( MLGDRD), Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology and Innovation, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Land and Natural Resources, Office of the Head of the Civil Service, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ghana Institute of Architects, Ghana Institute of Planners, Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors, Ghana Real Estates Developers Association, Lands Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana National Fire Service, Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority, representatives from the Physical Planning Department of the La Dadekotopon Municipal Assembly, and representatives from the Coastal Development Authority.