The Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Department of Development, Cllr Lawrence Khoza, has expressed his satisfaction with the state of readiness of the Metro Link, which has been identified as the interface centre of the Department under Alert Level 3 of the COVID-19 National Lockdown.

This follows the inspection walkabout he conducted at the building yesterday, 22 June, upon its re-opening to the public with services by Building Development Management (BDM), Land Use Development Management (LUDM) and Corporate Geo-Informatics (GIS).

BDM officials took the MMC through the interim building plans submission, assessment and approval processes, alongside the measures they had put into place to adhere to regulations, as they will be providing members of the public with services allowed under Level 3.

A breakdown of the standard operating procedure for the submission of building plans online is attached in the annexure below, with respective building plan tariffs valid until 30 June 2020.

Added to the list of services made available during the lockdown, Development Planning’s Outdoor Advertising Unit went live with its online applications yesterday. Members of the public can now submit their applications to outdooradvertising@joburg.org.za, but are encouraged to first make an appointment and seek clarity on what is required for the process by calling 011 407 6032.

The LUDM helpdesk was available to receive both Land Use Management and Legal Admin applications. The GIS desk will be in operation as of tomorrow, Wednesday, 24 June 2020.

MMC Khoza thanked stakeholders of the Department and members of the public for their patience and understanding as services had been halted due to the implementation of the lockdown. He further added that he was pleased by the development application processes being up and running, as well as the enhanced electronic offerings by the Department.

“A working Johannesburg means a great deal for our country. We are hoping that now that our systems are back and somewhat operating normally, we will be able to attract investment to the City of Johannesburg,” said MMC Khoza.

Over 90 people were assisted at the Metro Link today for various services. Of the 49 applications (7 online and 42 walk-ins) received today, nine building plans had been approved by 14h00.

Rina Prinsloo, a runner for 10 architects in Johannesburg, had an early start to what she called an “excellent day”, after one of her pending applications was approved in under two hours of her visit at the Metro Link.

“The service I received today made the long wait totally worth it. We appreciate the amount of thought and effort that went into making all of these services possible,” she added.

Rina’s sentiments were shared by home owner Vongani Siweya, whose house building plans were approved yesterday. “I thought COVID-19 would affect the efficiency of the process,” he said, “But I was pleasantly surprised that it took less than a day for it to be assessed and approved.”

Teboho Sehata of property developers, Valumax Projects, who yesterday submitted site development plan (SDP) for the application for a shopping centre, was impressed by how quickly the building plan was approved upon the SDP submission.

Teboho also received four Section 7(6) approvals, in terms of the National Building Regulations and Building Standard Act 103, 1977, as amended by the office of the City’s Building Control Officer. She further followed up on residential applications for 492 properties, which form part of the property developers’ project in Riverside View Ext 66 and 68.

Though Teboho was pleased by the measures put in place at the Metro Link to protect both members of the public and officials, she appealed to residents that did not have multiple application submissions to take advantage of the Department’s online platforms.

The City encourages online submission, as it minimises physical contact; therefore practicing social distance in compliance with COVID-19 regulations, through the use of cutting edge ICT technology. As of Tuesday, 29 June 2020, building plans and related applications must be submitted online, except bulk submissions and huge developments.

The Department will continue to communicate with residents and stakeholders as more services are made available during the lockdown period.

Media enquiries
Poppy Louw
Stakeholder Manager: MMC for Development Planning
poppyl@joburg.org.za
081 235 4999

Andile Masuku
Deputy Director: Stakeholder Management and Communications
073 066 7944