The City of Cape Town is developing a new online gateway to let the public and professionals transact development-related business with the City’s Development Management Department.
The new portal, billed as a one-stop shop for city development operations, will go live on February 27th, providing expanded services to citizens and professionals who have already enrolled for the e-service.
According to the city, the present site only provides a limited number of services and that it is necessary to invest in a new portal that takes use of modern technologies and expands the products accessible to clients.
“This will be the one-stop-shop for all development-related queries and requests to the city and one of the biggest advancements in this field by any municipality in South Africa,” it said.
The new upgraded Development Application Management portal will offer the following expanded services:
- Submit building plan applications
- Submit development/land use applications
- My application’ app to check and view all building plan applications on profile (new)
- My application’ app to check and view all land use/development applications on profile (new)
- Submit requests for zoning extracts (new)
- Download application feasibility information (new)
- Search for application data (new)
- Book pre-consultation meetings (new)
- Submit a sketch plan (new)
- Submit bulk applications (new)
- Request a building inspection (new)
- Request permission to use (new)
- Request an occupancy certificate (new)
- Request building plan copies (new)
- Resubmit an application after a refusal (new)
- Request to extend the approval period of an application (new)
The city stated that from February 20 to February 26, it would be unable to receive any development land use or building proposals owing to the migration procedure to the new portal.
During this time, the public will be unable to submit land use and building plan applications; however, citizens will be able to submit land use or building (enforcement) complaints.
The new site, according to the city, will immediately benefit property owners.
Only experts may track land usage and construction applications for their clients under the existing system. The new upgrade will enable property owners to stay informed about the status and schedule of their applications without having to contact their specialists.
“Professionals in the development industry will also benefit as they will be able to submit a direct service request for inspections, consultations, the feasibility of proposals, and tracking of all applications – all on one page,” it said.
The city said that it will teach the public how to use the new portal once it is in place.
