The construction sector suffers from bureaucratic red tape when dealing with investors and citizens seeking to obtain building permits, as they face obstacles and hurdles that waste their time and effort through repeated reviews by various competent authorities, without knowingwhich government agency is responsible for addressing their needs. This delay results in economic waste and delays in businesspeople’s development and construction projects.
In many cases, the instructions given by employees in different departments conflict with one another, because guidance is provided verbally, which absolves the relevant employee of responsibility, Therefore, we urge all government agencies to instruct their employees not to give verbal instructions or requirements to applicants, so as to avoid conflicts with other departments, and to work toward encouraging businesspeople to obtain building permits easily and conveniently, so that balanced urban development can take place, addressing the current supply distortions that fail to meet consumer demand despite its high volume.
Therefore, the Ministry of Housing must take charge of all construction-related procedures and establish a dedicated department to complement its role in urban development, comprising representatives from the municipal and engineering sectors as well as municipal authorities, in order to save time and effort for those wishing to build, and to remove all obstacles facing citizens in building their homes or companies in developing and constructing residential projects, so that efforts are not scattered among various ministries and their departments, because the next phase is one of construction, building, and urban development.
On the other hand, the Real Estate Development Fund, is making commendable efforts to accelerate construction by injecting 6 billion riyals annually, benefiting 12,000 recipients, in addition to its efforts to increase pressure on banks to facilitate financing in various forms, as well as on developers to provide units priced at around 500,000 riyals, All these efforts are aimed at providing affordable housing for low-income individuals and automatically revitalizing the construction market; therefore, it is essential to expedite its recovery, just as with other sectors.
In the coming phase, the Ministry is also tasked with activating its partnerships with the private sector, the Saudi Council of Engineers, and other relevant government agencies to implement the Saudi Building Code, and to stimulate construction by revising regulations to facilitate the acceleration of construction processes and the swift issuance of permits, and not linking the new permit to building demolition, as this affects the time required to complete the work. We propose that these processes be carried out simultaneously so that they do not take several months, as is currently the case on the ground.
