THE Ministry of Housing and Water will introduce its Electronic Single Window Processing Unit (ESWPU) for construction permits in the coming weeks.

This was revealed by subject minister Collin Croal during a recent interview on The Guyana Dialogue.

The unit was first talked about by Minister Croal during the launch of the 2023 Building Expo.

This publication had previously reported that the minister indicated that the platform is critical to making the sector more efficient and will contribute greatly to the improvement of doing business. He had said that the system will give Guyanese the opportunity to access the relevant information they need from any part of the country.

“The single-window platform will provide a single-entry point for submission, processing and approval for all your planning and development applications. These applications and other documents can be submitted from anywhere in the world, once the platform is fully implemented,” he had said.

He had also said that this intervention will significantly reduce the tedium that obtain in a process that is costly, frustrating, inefficient and outdated and will yield tremendous dividends for users.

During his interview on Friday, Minister Croal stated that a tremendous amount of work has been done on the ESWPU.

According to him, the ministry will be able to ensure transparency, while also eliminating subjectivity.

He further stated: “It gives a timeline for a response. We are currently gazetting the regulations. We’ve already passed the law. To make the other aspect complete is the regulations. So, the regulations speak towards how the timeline by which an agency must respond, and if they do not respond by x time, then it is deemed as you are giving your approval.”
Explaining the process, Minister Croal said: “The process as it is now is that you make an application. You file that manually, you put in the necessary plans, our Office Planning Unit receives this, and then it’s disseminated to the various agencies that have to give their objection, and then you’re awaiting their feedback, whether it’s from a local authority, which is a must. So, the local authority, whether it’s the Fire Department, whether it’s the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency; whether it’s for the Health Board, these are all agencies that are involved in approval, giving their no objection.”

Finally, a report is then generated and is given to the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).

Additionally, Minister Croal said they are cognisant of the fact that there are some regions where persons may have immense challenges in adapting to the use of technology to submit their applications, and has assured that the ministry will continue along with both the manual and electronic systems.

Moreover, the ministry, through a collaborative effort with the Ministry of Local Government, has facilitated for there to be computer systems and scanners at every local authority, so that persons will soon be able to go to the offices in or near communities to complete and submit their applications.