Abu Dhabi's Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities and Civil Defence signed today an agreement to further bolster their efforts aimed at providing integrated services in line with Abu Dhabi Plan.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with Major General Mohammed Khalfan Al Rumaithi, commander-in-chief of Abu Dhabi Police, and Falah Mohamed Al Ahbabi, chairman of Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities, in attendance, reported Emirates news agency Wam.

As the per the agreement, the two parties will form a joint technical team to review all site plans with the ultimate objective of following the best international practices in providing excellent and hassle-free government services to developers as well as owners. The step is also in line with the vision of the leadership with regard to reducing time for issuing construction licenses.

This is in addition to making use of the two departments' capabilities to increase revenues, cut costs, achieving sustainable development and improving life quality, thus enhancing the emirate's global competitiveness.

Al Ahbabi commended the cooperation between the two departments to develop policies and monitoring procedures to achieve an integrated and sustainable system for urban planning and development.

The agreement will also speed up and facilitate the construction licence issuance procedures, he added.

Al Rumaithi said, "This MoU is in line with the efforts of our leadership aimed at increasing revenue efficiency and speeding up procedures of site plans revision and approval to ensure that they meet the set security and safety conditions."