Kabul Municipality Construction Permit Automation Support

The IFC continue to support the Government of Afghanistan at the national level in Kabul in developing the Construction sector by (1) streamlining the Construction Permitting process and related pre approvals, (2)creating a transparent and simplified regulatory framework, which realizes public good health and safety policy objectives and reduces the complexity of the Construction Permitting process, and (3) building the capacity of the Construction Permitting civil servants capable of implementing the reforms.

The overall objective of this engagement is to undertake an ICT capacity assessment of the municipal government agencies and departments involved in construction permit administration in the city of Kabul.

Apex has been engaged by the IFC to conduct an assessment of existing ICT infrastructure and capacity at the government agencies involved in construction permitting in Kabul, Afghanistan, to address the following core question: To what extent can construction permitting be initially automated in the city of Kabul, and what needs to be done for the successful implementation of an automated construction permitting system at the target regulatory agencies?

This assessment spans the current state of technology and infrastructure, skills and capacity, available support, and policies. The assessment is primarily based on both high-level and in-depth interviews undertaken from May 31st to June 4th 2014 with senior officials, process owners (i.e., engineers and technical staff members who administer the process on a daily basis), and ICT staff at the target municipal agencies; namely, Kabul Municipality HQ, Design and Implementation of Urban Plans Directorate (DIUPD), and district offices. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with a small sample of the private sector in the city of Kabul to gauge the level of ICT literacy in the business community and their ability to prepare and submit construction permit applications electronically.