The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE process of obtaining building permits was yesterday described as difficult and frustrating by a well-known Bahamian contractor, who told Tribune Business that more transparent policies and procedures would help.

Immediate past president of the Bahamian Contractors Association (BCA), Stephen Wrinkle, told Tribune Business: “In regards to the building permit process I think everyone who has been through it understands the problems associated with it.

“I don’t think it’s any one thing, but I certainly think that at some point in time it would be prudent for the Government to sit down with the stakeholders and come up with a solution for this. We continue to do business in the manner that we have done years and years ago.

“It’s not going to improve. You cannot expect any improvement whatsoever with regards to permitting inspections or construction unless and until the Government makes a decision to actually implement some rules and regulations that can be policed. It’s a very difficult and frustrating process, extremely frustrating. I think that some more clear cut guidelines, policies and procedures would help expedite that process.”

According to the Wrold Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report, 2013, obtaining a building permit from the Ministry of Works’ Building Control Unit takes 120 days.

But Andre Braynen, a member of the Institute of Bahamian Architects (IBA), recently told Tribune Business that the process took much longer than that, noting that was still trying after six months to obtain a building permit.

Mr Wrinkle told Tribune Business: “With regards to the permitting process, it can take anywhere from 30 days to three years, it’s the way that we handle that whole affair.”

An IBA report, submitted to the former Ingraham administration, made numerous suggestions for overhauling the procedures and processes at the Ministry of Works’ Building Control Department (BCD).

Mr Braynen told Tribune Business that the IBA report emphasised how various stages in the Bahamian building permitting process could be outsourced to licensed, qualified professionals registered with the BCD, such as architects and engineers.

Mr Wrinkle told Tribune Business: “Outsourcing of the inspections really is only the field work. That’s once the job has gone through the approval process, been out to tender and is actually underway.

“That might help to expedite the flow of the job, but then again they are going out and making inspections and the people they are inspecting may or may not be qualified to do the job. We keep going back to the issue of certification and licensing. You have to have accountability in this industry.”