Dubai Municipality launches e-building services

Dubai: Villa and property development owners will soon be able to communicate directly with contractors with regards to the construction process of their properties, it was announced on Sunday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Gitex Technology Week 2012, a senior Dubai Municipality official announced that the municipality has launched its e-building services.

“It will initially facilitate smooth communication between all municipality building consultants and contractors. In phase two, we aim to extend the services so that owners will be able to monitor what modifications have to be made to his construction project,” said Eissa Al Maidoor, Deputy Director of Dubai Municipality.

The e-service portal will be available in both Arabic and English on Dubai Municipality’s website, and will convert all existing transactions online.

“All appointments with contractors will be made online and the contractor can decide as to which management level he wishes to consult with,” explained Al Maidoor, pointing out that the project has been under construction since 2007.

Nevertheless, the launch of the e-Building Services will not prevent building inspectors from carrying out sudden inspections, and they will continue to make appointed visits to the sites as scheduled.

“The e-service will also act as an archive for contractors so that they can monitor their modifications and changes accordingly. In this way, communication is open to everybody and there will be no confusion,” Al Maidoor noted.

The launch of the e-Building Services will also allow approvals of projects under construction, enable fees to be paid, and provide a platform for inquiries to be made, in addition to providing a completion certificate of the project.

Al Maidoor further explained that if a deformation exists in one of the projects under construction, the required modification will be published on the website, enabling contractors to directly contact them on how to make the modifications.

“The advantages are enormous, but mainly, we focus on rectifying any problems and having it on record so that it cannot be denied,” he added.