Building permit processing cut to three days in QC

Processing of building permits in Quezon City has been reduced from several weeks to three days, a top city official said yesterday.

Engineer Joselito Cabungcal, officer-incharge of the city engineering department, said the improved processing time was a result of the computerization program being implemented by the city government.

He noted that the old practice of processing applications was done via stations of verification units where applications were often stalled for lack of necessary requirements. The new system will allow continuous verification despite lack of some documents.

"Light requirements like the specification of estimates of the project will not affect the process of the applications since most of the applications have a target time to finish their structures," Cabungcal said.

He said other lacking requirements like fire and locational clearances likewise will not stall the process of verification because his office will endorse the release of documents to respective officers concerned for fast-tracking.

The city government has also begun instituting measures to weed out fixers operating within the city engineering department by setting up partitions that bar unauthorized people from entering vital verification units.

Cabungcal said the computerization program and the introduction of the new system in the processing of building permits is in line with the vision of Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to make the city business-friendly and a major investment destination in the country.