MUAR: All building development and design plans within the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) in South Johor will soon be processed and approved online. 

Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said the move was aimed at shortening the approval time of buildings and its designs in IDR from several months to about one month. 

Speaking to reporters here he said an approval and implementation committee had been set up to manage all building and design applications submitted to IDR. 

“We have set up the special committee which acts like a one-stop-centre to speed up the decision making in development matters within the region.  

“All the relevant authorities, including the Land Office, the local government authority, the Department of Environment, the Fire Department and others will process every application online at the same time,” he said on Wednesday. 

Abdul Ghani said such online procedures would also make application and process for all building plans and designs more efficient. 

He said the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was expected to launch the online system soon and plans were underway to create a website for the system. 

At present, he said all building plans and designs would go from one authority to another for consideration before they were approved by the state executive council. 

“This takes about one year for a building plan or its design to be approved and we want to shorten the time to about three months,” he said.

Source : The Star 4/4/2007