Building and Land Use Permit in Mauritius

An Introduction
By T. Nicolas MARIE




Prior to receiving a Building and Land Use Permit (BLP) from the Municipalities and District Councils in Mauritius, the applicant and the draughtsman should ascertain 3 main things namely:

1. Title Deed ("Contrat") is available and contains name of applicant (or owner of plot of land). The last page of the Title Deed usually contain the TV (Transcript Volume) Number.


2. Required Documents with necessary approvals (Clearance from CEB, CWA and Waste Water Management Authority, Letter of Consent duly signed by neighbor(s) where setback is less than 900 mm, Contour plan if basement is proposed...) are submitted along with 3 sets of plans along with BLP form duly signed by both applicant and draughtsman where applicable.

For CEB clearance, needed plans are 2 copies of location and site plans and elevations. Clearance will cost Rs. 375 /- payable when clearance is obtained.

For CWA clearance, needed plans are a single copy of location and site plans, layouts, elevations and sections.   Clearance will cost Rs. 345 /- payable when application is made.  An exception is the CWA at Mutual Aid Building, Port Louis where 2 copies are needed and clearance is received same day on Wednesdays.

Application for CEB and CWA Clearances should be made to the office nearest to the site.  Those clearances are required for all new projects.  For extension or addition of floors, only CEB Clearance is needed. 

WWMA Clearance will cost approx. Rs. 800 /- and application is made only at Port Louis.  This clearance is mostly sought where there is connection to main sewer (in town only) and apartments.

Needed Documents as appeared in older BLP application

3.  Site and subsequently all layout plans must been done respecting limits shown on title deeds and as per the Building and Land Use Permit guideline.  The site plan should be detailed with name of neighbours, street name and width, dimension of sides and rear setbacks, road reserves, parking where applicable and external sewerage system (septic tank, absorption pit or leech field, manholes, grease trap and sewerage lines) clearly depicted and dimensions between to building corners and septic tank and between same and boundary lines.  Recently there has been an emphasis on Rain Water Pipe, Catchpits and Soakaway that need to be shown on site plan.  Required Plans are:

a. Location Plan
b. Site Plan
c. Layout Plan
d. Elevations (Generally 4 elevations)
e. Sections (Generally 2 sections: Longitudinal and Cross Sections)
f. Foundation Layout
g. Surface Bed, Walls, Strip Footing and Pad Footing Details
h. Column Details
i. Beams Details
j. Slabs Layout
k. Staircase Details
l. Septic Tank and other external sewerage components details

Note that a to e plans are known as architectural plans and f to l plans as structural plans.

THE BUILDING AND LAND USE PERMIT FORM (BLP1)

The BLP1 form for Residential House consist of 8 pages including cover page and divided into 3 parts.  The first part (pages 2 ad 3) is to be filled by the applicant/client while the remaining Part B and C to be filled by the service provider.  Part A is straight forward starting with the applicant contact details, details concerning the land on which the building will sit i.e Location, Extent, TV No.  Those information is readily available in the Title Deed. 

Site Information

There is also a section within that part inquiring whether the applicant is owner of the land. Should the answer be NO, the ID of the Owner should be photocopied and submitted along with the remaining document. The owner of the site must also provide a written authorisation letter to the applicant.

Is the Applicant Owner of the Site?

As stated Part B and C concerned the Draughtman.  However the applicant should know the following guidelines with respect to his/her building project:

1. Engineer's approval is needed for the following cases: 
a. Effective Span exceed 5m.  Effective Span is the distance between the center of supports (here Reinforced Concrete Columns).
b. Ground + 2 construction 
c. Cantilever Beams/Slab exceeds 1.2m
d. Natural Slope of Land greater than 1:20

2. For floor area exceeding 150 m2 or 1614 sq. ft. (See BLP Guide 2013), the plans should be approved and signed by a professional architect.  

3.  The building should be surrounded at sides and rear by a minimum setback of 900 mm. Even more in case of a Ground + 2 where building height exceeds 7.5m.  Hence should the applicant plan on having a second floor at a later stage, he/she should provide for a 2m setback right from the start. 

The Reserve is specified in the title deed (if not, see the land surveyor report).  It is to be noted that Boundary wall should not be erected within the reserve.

 

Set Backs

4.  Another critical issue is the septic tank and absorption pit.  There is to be a minimum distance of 2m between the septic tank and the building and 2m from the septic tank to the boundary line.  People in process of buying land should make sure they have enough space for septic tank and absorption pit, even more for road A and B or where leech field is specified especially in Coastal Regions.

Septic Tank

 








Part C of the BLP is the schedule of payment. The greater the floor areas, even greater the cost as the rate increased for area greater than 250 m2.   For example, a floor area of 200 m2 cost Rs. 2000 (200 x Rs. 10), a floor of 400 m2 is twice the area but the price is Rs. 8000 (that is 400 x Rs. 20, hence 4 times) and a floor area of 600 is thrice the initial area but the price is Rs. 30,000 (that is 600 x Rs. 50, hence 15 times).

Should you have any further questions or any issues where I can help, please do not hesitate to contact me.