New building permit reforms to boost urban development in Egyptian cities

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Egypt - Manal Awad, Egypt’s Minister of Local Development, announced the simplification of procedures for obtaining building permits in Egyptian cities, reducing the number of steps from 15 to 8. This initiative aims to ease the process for citizens and shorten the time required to secure a building permit.

Minister Awad explained that permits will now be issued by the relevant administrative authority, represented by the technological centre and the planning and organization department in the local units of the governorates. This process will no longer require the involvement of specialized university units or the submission of a registered property contract. Instead, proof of ownership will suffice. Additionally, the authority will provide survey services to applicants in exchange for a fee.

Awad highlighted that these changes have significantly reduced the time needed to obtain permits, now taking 26 working days in cases where no insurance document is required, and extending to 40 days when such a document is necessary.

She clarified that these measures align with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s directives to alleviate the burden on citizens and streamline the building permit process. The goal is to encourage urban development and construction across the governorates, thereby increasing the private sector’s contribution to the availability of diverse housing units for citizens. This, in turn, is expected to create more job opportunities for workers in the construction and building sectors within the governorates. The government, led by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, is committed to encouraging private-sector companies to expand their operations across all economic sectors in the country.

Regarding the detailed building permit procedures, the process begins with the site suitability assessment. The citizen submits a request to the technological centre, needing only to provide a copy of their national ID and a site sketch. The requirement for a registered property contract and site coordinates has been removed. Following this, the applicant pays a fee for a site survey, which is conducted by one of the designated surveying entities, such as the Military Survey Department or the Directorate of Surveying. The survey is completed within 15 days. The administrative authority then verifies planning and building requirements, as well as the architectural character of the project, and issues the site suitability statement through the technological centre within 5 days. The total time required for this initial assessment is 20 days.

The next phase involves obtaining the building permit itself. The citizen applies, including a contract with a certified engineer, a power of attorney, and the required architectural and engineering drawings, which must be approved by the engineer. Proof of land ownership and, where necessary, an insurance document must also be provided. The insurance document should be issued by the insurance syndicate within 15 days. The technological centre and the planning and organization department then review the application to ensure it complies with building codes, planning requirements, and architectural standards, which takes 15 days.

Once this review is complete, the citizen must contract a supervising engineer and a contractor for the execution of the project, submitting copies of these contracts to the technological centre, with signatures from both the engineer and contractor on the required declarations. A review committee at the local unit, headed by the unit’s chief, then examines the file, calculates the fees, and submits the fee report to the technological centre within 10 days. Finally, the citizen pays the expenses, and the permit is issued, signed by the unit chief and stamped by the administrative authority, within two days of payment. In total, the building permit issuance takes 26 days without an insurance document and 40 days where insurance is required.