New online system will enhance DM’s services

Announcing the project, Abdullah Al Shaibani, Assistant Director-General for Technical Services Affairs, said that launching of the project comes as a step by the civic body towards enhancing the services that are much sought-after by customers and the systems that need to be updated. He said that the new system would be integrated with other online systems of the municipality, which strives to become a model for e-governance.

Al Shaibani said that during its first phase, the project would be implemented for the Administrative Section of the Markets Department. The next phase would be rolling out the system for other departments that are involved in the property and lease management business, he added.

AbdulRahman Al Jaziri, Director of Markets Department, said his department would be the first beneficiary of the project, which will serve different departments, sections and units of Dubai Municipality in the time to come.

“With the introduction of this system, we will have more opportunities to deal with investors. It helps people to find out about the availability of sites and shops owned by the municipality. The system will also help them find out the fines and records,” said Al Jaziri.

The Administrative Section of the Markets Department is responsible for contracting and leasing the properties, including markets, cafeterias and shops in parks, and other civic body buildings. Its major role is to execute the municipality's property rent committee decisions, follow-up the lease or tenancy contract, co-ordinate and follow-up any issues related to lease and tenancy contracts, tenant and leasehold with other departments such as the Legal Affairs Department, General Maintenance Department and Contracts and Purchasing Department.

AbdulHakim Malik, Director of Information Technology Department, said that the project would implement the property management application as a web-based, fully integrated suite of software to provide enterprise-wide management, decision making, and reporting system.

He said the online customers would be able to enquire about the leasing of municipality properties offered for rent or municipality lands that are open for investment.

“The system will provide online customers with maps and detailed drawings of municipality properties. They can also submit online applications and pay the required fees online as well as follow it up during at different stages,” he said.

According to Malik, the system is also linked with other concerned internal online systems such as the GRP system, fine system, document management system among others. The implementation of the first phase of the project is expected to be completed by mid-July later this year.

The new system would reduce the time for issuing and renewing lease/tenancy contracts; offer complete visibility of information regarding vacant, rented and full leasehold/title; help tracking and monitoring the rent and contract payments and ensure seamless flow of information to the Rents Committee.