Online construction permits developed with OSCE support promote good governance

The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine (PCU) supported the development and launch of a digital government service enabling Ukrainian individuals and businesses to initiate minor construction projects via a simple on-line notification without visiting a government office in person. The service, launched on 19 July in Kyiv, helps to remove a potential avenue for official abuse or corruption. The online service, covers 80 percent of construction projects, was presented today by the Ukrainian State Architecture and Building Inspection, State e-Governance Service and Ministry of Justice.

A piloting of the service began in 2017. Since then, about 5,000 notifications were submitted online, saving an average of 1.5 hours per transaction. The service is now linked to Ministry of Justice register, allowing the automatic completion of technical information. With the barrier of having to enter technical details manually removed, the government expects that a far greater proportion of the 50,000 notifications presented annually will be submitted online, with fewer instances of human error to decrease.

“It’s not a secret that construction has always been considered among the least transparent areas of government administration in Ukraine,” said Oleksiy Kudriavtsev, the Head of State Architecture and Building Inspection. “Digitalization of these services will decrease the risk of offences by officials and builders.”

 The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine supported the digitalization of 14 types of administrative services in construction, land and waste management with the aim of decreasing the risk of corruption and promoting good governance.

“Digitalization of economic functions supports good governance and stimulates economic growth, which are pillars of the OSCE’s conception of comprehensive security,” said Jeffrey Erlich, Senior Project Officer for the Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine.