TIRANA, Dec. 2 – Albania will establish an electronic one-stop-shop on construction permits in 2016 which will enable both households and businesses to apply online eliminating bureaucracy in state offices, Urban Development Minister Eglantina Gjermeni has said.
Introducing the ministry’s 2016 budget at the parliamentary productive activities committee this week, Gjermeni said the project will enable increased transparency and fight corruption.
“The new Territorial Development Agency and the e-permit system will be an extra instrument available to citizens, investors and construction companies not only to accelerate procedures and increase transparency in examining and approving construction permits, but also to guarantee controlled and well-administered territorial development,” said Gjermeni.
The urban development ministry will have a budget of 2.45 billion lek (€17.4 mln) for 2016, up 26 percent compared to 2015 which will be used on urban requalification and social housing. Some 80 million lek (€568,000) will go to establish the Territory Development Agency and the electronic one-stop-shop on construction permits.
Local government units issued 113 construction permits in the first half of this year ahead of the territorial reforms which cut the number of units to 61 municipalities down from 380 municipalities and communes ahead of the June 2015 local elections.
The number of annual construction permits has seen a sharp decline in the past three years dropping to a few hundred down from more than 1,000 annually before 2011.
INSTAT data shows the number of construction permits dropped to 270 in 2014, down from 360 in 2013, 1,604 in 2011 and 1,492 in 2008 just before the onset of the global financial crisis when construction industry was at its peak level.
Albania’s business climate suffered a major setback in the past year, losing 35 places in the World Bank Doing Business report on a sharp deterioration in dealing with construction permits.
Albania’s sharp deterioration was affected by the dealing with construction permits indicator where it lost 67 places to rank the bottom 189th in the report. “Albania made dealing with construction permits more difficult by suspending the issuance of building permits,” said the flagship World Bank report.
