Contract for electronic portal for Single Window System to be inked soon

Housing and Water Minister Collin Croal has said the contract for the electronic portal for the Single Window System would be signed by the end of the week.
Making this revelation on Tuesday during the Ministry’s ‘Dream Realised’ housing drive held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, he explained that the electronic aspect of the programme would allow anyone with an application to use a unique number to log in at any time to check the status of their application. He said, moreover, that the system would indicate which agency needed to provide a response or feedback.
“So, those of you who are embarking on a particular type of construction, you do not have subjectivity of having to depend on any officer, per se,” he relayed.
Minister Croal underlined that the Single Window Bill would have a significant impact on the lives of Guyanese. That bill, presented to the National Assembly last Monday, caters to the establishment of a single-window electronic processing system to increase business efficiency and predictability, as the housing and construction industries are expanding rapidly. It would help to standardise application forms and checklists, as well as drastically reduce the time needed to complete a transaction.
Croal said the Government constantly examines the system, to improve efficiency in order to make the lives of Guyanese better. “When you’re seeking approval, which we have to get from the local authorities, you also have one of the bugbear issues of waiting on the no-objection that comes from the local authorities,” he explained.
Enshrined in the legislation are the regulations that would confine and state the particular time by which a response must be provided, he explained. “If the response does not come back — whether it’s an objection or no-objection — if the response is not given in a particular time, we will deem such a response from the NDC as no-objection,” he said.
The Minister has emphasised that the PPP/C Government’s transformational agenda is not just about infrastructure, but also legislation and ensuring that the system is much more transparent and fluid for everyone.