Project # 2 - Building Permits

Our second project was a very challenging one.  We were asked to help the City of Accra to reduce the time it takes to issue a Building Permit.  Their goal is to release one in 90 days, but the world bank reports that it takes 218 days, and that they rank 156 out of 183 countries on this capability.

Accra has over 4M inhabitants, and is rapidly growing in population which imposes significant challenges in terms of services capacity.  People and cars are everywhere!!  Construction abounds, and apparently a large percentage of these projects have no Building Permit. With the recent heavy rains and flooding, radio reports talked about the impact this was having - buildings that did not meet regulations and could not stand up to the amount of water that came down, and buildings built on flood plains, contrary to the zoning plans.

The view from the car going into work...

Published in the press... quite devastating for some people :(

We met with the head of the Metro Works Department and the Town and Country Planning Department several times, to understand their processes and their challenges.  We also met with potential solution providers to determine what was the best fit, and what their timelines were.  
 
We developed a solution that included recommendations for improving the way they were organized, so that the process flow would improve and to decrease the number of steps applicants are required to execute, leveraging the AMA's website to facilitate communication of forms, processes and FAQs.  We made recommendations to shorten the approval process and we provided a roadmap for the implementation of an electronic building permit application.

Obviously there's a lot more detail in our report, but I'm going to leave it to the AMA to implement and tell their good news!

When we finished our presentation we had the honour of having our photographs taken with the mayor - I was very excited!  Here we are...

The mayor gave me a gift and a banner thanking us for coming to Accra

Our team with Mayor Vanderpuije

The whole Building Permits team!

It was an exciting opportunity for us!   Through the presentation, many very specific action items were developed, with identified owners and clear timelines for accomplishments.  With this kind of management plan, we felt satisfied that many of the recommendations will be realized in the near future.

I will be watching to see how they progress!
 

Quite a large group participated in the process, many of whom I will stay in touch with.  I would love to have the opportunity to work with them again, although logistically this is not simple.  But who knows... we will watch for an opportunity, some day some where!