THE Ministry of Planning and Development is moving swiftly towards digitising its services with the hope that transactions conducted by the Town and Country Planning Division (TCPD) be entirely paperless.
In a media release issued on Tuesday, the ministry indicated that as part of the Government’s mandate to digitise the public service there will be complete digitisation for the Chaguanas Borough Corporation and the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation.
The ministry stated that the upgrading of the TCPD will eliminate the public’s negative perception of the Division which included delayed feedback for approval requests, losing of files and carrying excessive documents to a location.
The new automated construction permitting system for the TCPD is called DevelopTT and was developed by the Ministry of Planning and Development and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The ministry stated, “This platform is aimed at increasing citizens’ ease of conducting business by allowing applicants to submit information electronically, track the processing of their applications and receive decisions digitally within a short time frame.”
Since April 2020, all planning permission applications for the Port of Spain City Corporation, the Diego Martin Regional Corporation and a portion of the San Juan Laventille Regional Corporation have been processed electronically. The September 1st announcement for the complete digitisation of the Chaguanas Borough Corporation, the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation, portions of the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation and the remainder of the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation was another major achievement the ministry stated.
The ministry stated, “The rolling out of the DevelopTT platform is a timely step, especially in the light of the current national conditions regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. A fully paperless system will mitigate the need for physical visits and manual submission of planning permission applications and supporting documents to TCPD’s offices, thereby limiting exposure of staff and customers.”
Citizens are encouraged to register via www.developtt.gov.tt or www.ttbizlink.gov.tt.
