The Ministry of Housing, Land, and Urban Development has announced that the submission of land use plans for approval can now be carried out through the OneGov portal.
The OneGov portal was launched in July last year and it aims to streamline services for government institutions. The housing ministry said that the initiative to provide land use approval services via OneGov is part of the roadmap for the initial 14 weeks of the administration and it involves collaboration with TradeNet Maldives Corporation Limited. The service will enable the submission of land use plans for approval and any necessary changes. The ministry also emphasised that users can access this feature on the OneGov portal after logging in through the eFaas application.
The OneGov portal serves as a unified platform for the public to access services from various government institutions. In line with an amendment to the Decentralisation Act, local councils are mandated to prepare the development and land use plans for each island within three months of elected members assuming office. Technical assistance for the process is provided by the Atoll Council.
Local councils have already communicated challenges in approving the plans, expressing their concerns to the government.