On Tuesday evening, it was announced that Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, had approved a number of initatives as part of the three year, Dh50 billion Abu Dhabi Government Accelerators Program 'Ghadan 21', or Tomorrow 2021.
These include:
- A working capital credit guarantee programme to give small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to Dh10bn in financing over the next three years from local banks at reduced interest rates.
- The establishment of a small claims court.
- A new policy from the first quarter of 2019 which will give local companies preference in government tenders, accounting for more than 50 per cent of current government spending categories.
- A Public-Private Partnership ('PPP') law that will be issued soon.
- The launch of three to five projects tendered in the first quarter of 2019, in the housing, roads, infrastructure, energy and healthcare sectors, with a total value of over Dh3bn.
- That all undisputed private sector dues and receivables will be settled before November 15.
- Structural changes have been made in the approved payment process to ensure payments are made to private contractors on time.
- Legislation to be issued within 30 days aimed at regulating the payment times of financial receivables in the public and private sectors.
- The government will also hold a monthly forum for dialogue with the private sector.
- All zoning and regulatory information for all plots across the emirate will be made available online by the end of October.
- The process of issuing building permits will be streamlined to within 10 days.
- A new Building Law to help lower the cost of building and owning property is in the final drafting stage.
- In the tourism sector there will be a 2.5 per cent reduction in the tourism fee, 2 per cent in the municipality fee and a Dh5 reduction in the hotel fee.
- A budget of over Dh500 million has been allocated over the next three years to promote Abu Dhabi as a tourism destination both regionally and globally.
More details are expected to be announced in the next few days, according to Wam.
