Building permits hard to come by as some projects go uninspected

A backlog of building permitsmeans some construction projects in Edmonton may never be checked, claimsareport by the city auditor.

David Wiun says there were more than42,000outstanding permits as of last summer that still needed inspections before they could be approved.

Some of those projects are up to 10years old.

There's a risk some inspections will never be carried out because construction is probably completeand the work inaccessible, Wiunwrites.

Coun.Dave Loken, who sits on the city's audit committee,saidthe backlog raises some serious questions.

"We constantly have developers and builders complaining to us that the process takes too long," he said. "Then we have this backlog like we do and things not getting done, so there's obviously a disconnect here that needs to be addressed."

Wiunrecommends the hiring of additional staff, but saidit's tough finding qualified people.

Wiunalso saidthe wait for building permits is becoming longer now taking two weeks and the industry is starting construction before receiving building permits.

City council's audit committee will discuss the report at a meeting next week.