AT LEAST 860 new residential structures and office buildings are scheduled to rise in Cebu City starting this year, records of Cebu City’s Office of the Building Official (OBO) showed.
As of Dec. 18, 2015, the OBO has approved 868 new building permits out of 1,272 applications filed in 2015 alone.
But the number of approved applications may still increase considering that the data was only up to the middle of December and the OBO had processed only 68 percent of the total applications, said Architect Florante Catalan, the office’s assistant head.
“As far as OBO is concerned, the process wouldn’t be delayed if all of the documents were there, upon submission. Duna’y uban nga kung lacking ilang requirements, dugay mo-balik that is why, gamay atong approval compared to application (There are some who take their time in coming back, once told that they lack some requirements. That’s why we haven’t approved more),” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
It takes OBO 15 days to process an application.
With more structures being built in the city, the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) has to make sure these won’t add to road congestion.
When an application is for a commercial building, the CCTO usually asks the developer to submit a traffic management plan.
CCTO Executive Director Rey Gealon said their planning division conducts regular city-wide road traffic inspections to identify what adjustments are needed in some areas.
“With the construction of new buildings, we will stick to the protocol and improve it to mitigate these constructions’ traffic impact,” he added.
Applicants for a building permit are asked to submit an application form with copies of the building plan, barangay clearance, certified true copy of the land title or lot tax declaration, lot sketch plan, tax clearance, approved locational clearance, bill of materials, specifications and structural design analysis.
These are supposed to be verified by different divisions.
Once their papers are approved, applicants will receive text messages from OBO informing them of the status of their application.
Among the developments that OBO granted a permit in 2015 is the 45-storey condominium building being developed by Midland Development Corp. along Cardinal Rosales Ave. in Barangay Luz.
The development is the tallest so far, out of the projects with approved building permits.
In the North Reclamation Area, Barangay Mabolo, Grand Land Inc. is also constructing a 35-storey mixed use building. A 32-storey condominium is being developed by South Portal Properties Inc. in the Cebu Business Park in Barangay Luz.
For its part, Sunkai Land Inc. and Cebu Land Master Inc. are developing 28-storey and 26-storey condominium buildings on Pope John Paul II Ave. in Barangay Mabolo and Juana Osmeña St. in Barangay Capitol Site, respectively.
More applications were filed this year than in 2014, when there were 1,069 building permit applications, Catalan said.
In 2013, the OBO received 1,122 applications but only 889 were approved.
As 2016 starts, Catalan said they are expecting that more approved applications will be released.
City Hall, he added, is working on a system that will allow them to process business permit applications in just a day, tentatively scheduled for implementation this year.
The City’s Management Information Computer Services unit has a P5-million allocation in the 2016 budget to work on the OBO-Integrated System.