From Cayman Islands Ministry of Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure.

Director of Planning at the Ministry of Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure, Haroon Pandohie informed members of the development community that the Department approved 380 planning permissions during the first two quarters of 2019, with projects valued at $523,186,171.

Six hundred and fifty-nine planning permits, valued $205,349,385, were issued for the same period.

Mr. Pandohie was speaking at “Business After Hours”, an informational and feedback session hosted by the Department of Planning at the Family Life Centre recently (Wednesday, July 25). Also in attendance were Alan Jones, Chief Officer and Tristan Hydes, Deputy Chief Officer at the Ministry of Commerce Planning and Infrastructure.

Mr. Pandohie also stated that the Department was focused on improving customer interface with the online planning system.

“Every service offered by the Department is available on the planning portal. “Our objective is to enhance the efficiency and quality of our service while reducing the amount of paper involved in the planning process and instances in which applicants have to resubmit information”, he said.

He further noted that efforts were being made to speed up the timeframe for applications and streamline the process from applying for planning permissions to the permit process.

The online planning system currently allows clients of the Department to apply for permits online, and to track permit related plan reviews and inspections. In addition to logging into the system to view information, key status updates are automatically sent to customers via email.

Some of the key features of the system include applying for various permit types online, uploading of electronic plans and drawings, tracking of plan reviews, requesting and tracking of inspection requests and tracking of plan reviews.

The Department of Planning will host other information sessions to connect with stakeholders and keep them abreast of issues which affects them.