Bahrain’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), in cooperation with the kingdom’s Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA), have launched a new Real Estate Licensing System and associated e-services, which are available through the National Portal.
In the first phase, the RERA licensing system will include a set of electronic services for brokers and sales agents, including license applications, fee payments, application status inquiries, license renewals, and access to updated RERA lists and documents required for issuing or updating licenses.
The upcoming phases of the RERA licensing system will include services for the other licensee categories, including developers, property managers, and owners’ association managers.
iGA established an integrated system between the two parties to ensure these services meet the highest levels of quality and security. The back-end system was developed in accordance with the latest Amazon Web Services (AWS) standards, optimising cloud computing technologies, and integrating and linking it to national systems and services, such as the eKey.
The RERA system is also integrated with the population registry system (Sijilat), the National Payment Aggregator (NPA), and all data related to real estate, making it user-friendly to the public and RERA.
The launch was conducted virtually through a meeting, which brought together chief executive officer of Bahrain’s RERA, Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa; the CEO of the IGA, Mohammad Ali Al Qaed; and the iGA Deputy Chief Executive for Electronic Transformation, Dr Zakareya Ahmed Al-Khajah, among other senior officials.
Speaking at the launch of the new service, Shaikh Mohammed said: “This new licensing system represents the combined and concerted efforts of iGA and RERA. This is a further enhancement of services delivered electronically by RERA, thus removing the need for personal attendance at RERA’s offices, particularly relevant at this time through the challenges.
“We in RERA are very keen to ensure the range of services provided are delivered in the most efficient and effective way possible, by maximising the use of electronic channels. We are always interested in getting feedback from RERA service users, which can then be factored into future service enhancement.”
The iGA CEO, Mohammad Ali Al Qaed, emphasised the importance of the real estate sector as a pillar of economic development, adding that laws and e-services need to be continuously improved to attract foreign investment.
Al Qaed also expressed his pride in the technical expertise of the employees who worked on the project, which resulted in the highest levels of quality, accuracy, and efficiency.