7 January 2020 09:07 am
Makes compulsory to issue certificates of compliance also in a day
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday instructed the relevant officials to approve housing and small-scale business construction plans within a day if the the plans are in order and prepared properly.
President Rajapaksa said the people are greatly inconvenienced due to the strict rules and time consuming process in approving construction plans.
He expressed these views at a meeting with the officials of the institutions under the Urban Development, Water Supply and Housing Facilities Ministry. The meeting was held at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo yesterday afternoon.
He said it was the responsibility of the government to simplify the existing laws and minimize the inconvenience faced by the people.
“The attention should be made to empower the local government bodies for approving plans and to make legal provision to make this possible. An officer with the legal knowledge should be appointed to approve plans which have not yet been approved. It is compulsory to issue the Certificate of Compliance in a day,” he said.
The special attention has been paid to update the National Physical Plan. The importance of focusing on long-term loans and concessionary loans to a first-time home buyer has also been discussed. (Lahiru Pothmulla)