DOING BUSINESS 2009 - JOHN J. HADDAD, Ph.D.

thority’s new data management systemmakes processing smarter and more userfriendly. Today builders regularly receiveupdates on the status of their permit applicationsby e-mail and text messaging.Latin America and the Caribbeanalso saw important reforms. In Colombiathe magistrates responsible for issuingbuilding permits started using a singleform. Builders no longer need to obtainthe names and contact information ofall neighbors before submitting a permitapplication. A decree implementing adecade-old silence-is-consent rule kickedin, reducing the time to obtain a buildingFIGURE 3.1permit Top 10 reformers from 3 months to 2. In Jamaicathe in dealing government with construction began implementing permits a90-day Average improvement statutory time limit. That cut thetime 2007 to obtain a building permit from15%210 days to 130—much 21% 21%better, though2008still short of the target.Elsewhere, economies continuedto revamp their building codes. Tongaimplemented its 2005 building code inlate 2007. The new code incorporateszoning and health and fire safety approvalsinto the building permit process,cutting 3 procedures and reducing theProcedures Time Costtime by 12 days. Portugal’s new buildingregulations introduced electronicprocessing of documents. Egypt’s newbuilding code aims to reduce the time toobtain a building permit by establishinga single window and enforcing a 30-daystatutory time limit. The new code alsointroduces a single certificate for obtainingFIGURE all 3.3utility connections. Before, eachutility Reforms connection in Sub-Saharan required Africa 3 picking separate upletters from the municipality.South Asia0Sub-SaharanAfrica(46 economies)OECDhigh income(24 economies)East Asia& Pacific(24 economies)Latin America& Caribbean(32 economies)Middle East &North Africa(19 economies)DEALING WITH CONSTRUCTION PERMITS 17FIGURE 3.3Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa picking upNumber of reforms making it easier to deal with construction permitsby Doing Business report yearDB2006 DB2007 DB2008 DB2009Eastern Europe& Central Asia20(28 economies)South 1. Asia Kyrgyz Republic0(8 economies)2. Burkina Faso3. Hong Kong, ChinaNote: 4. A reform Rwanda is counted as 1 reform per reforming economy per year.Source: Doing Business database.5. Armenia6. Belarus7. Jamaica25 administrative. Legal reforms deal8. Croatiawith 9. new Bosnia building and Herzegovina codes, regulations andbylaws 10. Angola that change the standards andorganization of construction permitting.Administrative reforms include streamliningSource: DoingprojectBusiness database.clearances and introducingtime limits and online processes.Reforming building codes can be a long,complex exercise, requiring input frommany stakeholders. A new building codeenacted in 2007 in the Czech Republicwas 18 years in the making.The focus in Eastern Europe andCentral Asia, while initially on legalNumber of reforms making it easier reforms, to deal is with shifting construction to administrativepermitsby Doing Business report yearDB2006 DB2007 changes. DB2008 Georgia is a DB2009 good example.Eastern What Europe are the reform trends? After 3 years of reform it claimed a place& Central Asiain the top 10 on the ease of dealing20with(28 economies)In the past 4 years, with 20 reforms, construction permits. But long delays remainin the restSub-SaharanEastern Africa Europe and Central Asia has13of the region—where thehad (46 economies) the most reforms making it easier process takes 260 days on average, overto OECD deal with construction permits (figure 100 days more than the average of 154 in3.3). high income9Africa follows, with 13. OECD highincomeeconomies have had 9, East Asia Reformers in Africa started withOECD high-income economies.(24 economies)East Asiaand & Pacific Pacific 8, Latin America and the 8 administrative reforms. They began inCaribbean (24 economies) 6, the Middle East and North earnest in 2006, cutting 4 proceduresAfrica Latin America 4 and South Asia 0.and reducing delays by 15 days on average.Meanwhile, delays in the rest of the& Caribbean6Of the 60 reforms easing constructionpermitting, 35 have been legal and region increased by 26 days. In Nigeria(32 economies)Middle East &North Africa4(19 economies)468913FIGURE 3.5Private and risk-based inspections—greater efficiencyAverage delay for inspections (days)218administrative 214 reforms have cut superfluousprocedures and inspections. Butbuilders in Africa still face outdated constructioncodes or new ones not yet fullyimplemented. Private Risk-based Kenya overhauled Randomall itsinspections inspections inspectionsbuilding regulations. Today it is the onlyby building by buildingAfrican economy authorities to rank among authorities the top10 Source: on Doing the Business ease database. of dealing with constructionpermits.FIGURE 3.4Top 5 reform features in dealing withconstruction permitsReforms including feature since DB2006 (%)Streamlined project clearancesIntroduced statutory time limits13%Changed inspection regime13%Introduced new building code8%Computerized permitting process254Note: A reform may include several reform features.Source: Doing Business database.FIGURE 3.2(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The WorldRankingsBankon dealing with construction28%33%FIGURETop 5constrReformStreamIntroduChangeIntroduCompuNote: A reSource: DoFIGURRankpermDays ta warein maiProceis receand uNote: S