Bahrain - Building permits for investment, residential, industrial and commercial purposes are being issued online within an average of 2.08 working days, according to a top official. 

Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Ministry building permits head Najma Hassan revealed at the Capital Trustees Board meeting yesterday that 1,533 building permits were issued through the Benayat portal last year.

The Northern Municipality topped the number of requests (578), followed by the Southern Municipality (438), Muharraq Municipality (296) and Capital Trustees Authority (221), covering a total area of 1.728 million square metres.

The permit issuance time has dropped from 2.2 days in 2023, pointed out Ms Hassan.

The portal allows applicants to obtain all necessary information to prepare drawings and documents required to apply for a building permit.

The system enables engineering offices licensed in Bahrain to apply, check on the status of applications, obtain consultations from government bodies concerned, pay fees, as well as apply for other related services.

It comes through an interactive map that provides key information for land parcels and by centralising all relevant regulations and requirements.

Talks are underway to allow remodelling, renovation and repair permissions to be issued through Benayat by the end of the year, which will mean that all municipal services could be easily obtained online through one system.

Ms Hassan added that the maximum time for issuing permits still stands at five days for the most complex of cases.“For requests that require prior approvals, the 54 we received were all addressed within the deadline,” she said.

“The 13 complex cases were all resolved within the five-day deadline.“A total of 427 permit requests were addressed within a day, 639 in two, 377 in three, 85 in four and five in five days.

“Seventy per cent were for residential purposes, 4.4pc investment buildings, 1.5pc industrial projects, 0.3pc agriculture plots, 1.5pc services and public utilities and 22.3pc special or recreational projects.“Payments for permits were all made within the 10-day deadline,” said Ms Hassan.

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