DM Approval Authority for Dubai 2040 Master Plan
Dubai Approval
May 15, 2025
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Some Facts about Dubai Municipality (DM)
The Dubai Municipality has come a long way since its establishment on February 28th, 1957, by the first decree. It provides Dubai Municipal Approval and other services to the population of Dubai and its work includes urban planning, construction supervision, environmental protection and improvement, public parks conservation, regulating and ensuring international quality standards compliance in aspects such as
- construction and building materials
- food & consumable items
- professional services in laboratory certification and accreditation.
Having begun with just 3 operating employees, it has grown into an organization with more than 15,000 staff working in 32 organizational units, making it a major driving force in the development of Dubai City. With a vision of “Developing a happy and sustainable city,” the DM Approval is also instrumental in maintaining the architectural heritage of the emirate through the revival and maintenance of many cultural landmarks.
The Dubai Municipality is currently composed of 34 departments under six sectors, namely:
- Communication & Community Sector
- Corporate Support Sector
- General Support Sector
- Environmental Health & Safety Control Sector
- Environment & Public Health Services Sector
- Engineering & Planning Sector
The services offered by these sectors are segregated into individual, government, and business-centric, with the focus of DM Approval quality control on areas such as Environment and waste, Financial and business, building and land planning, lab testing and accreditation, Public health and consumer safety, drainage and irrigation, veterinary, agriculture and public markets services.
An example of planning assistance by DM
The Dubai Municipality, or DM, has a planning division that allows streamlined submissions to be made from the user end and a legislative system in place to demarcate its jurisdiction.
One example of planning assistance is guidelines for submission of a Masterplan for building plan proposals. Here, the applicant submits a draft proposal for preliminary assessment that covers ownership, on-site, and surrounding region description.
Following this, a final assessment submission requires Non-Objection Certificates from the concerned local authorities (Dubai Police, Civil Aviation, Road Transport Authority, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, etc). Finally, the DM Approval provides a “sign-off sheet” to all service authorities for their approval of the master plan.
After completing all these procedures, a follow-up application needs to be filed online at www.dm.gov.ae which consists of paying the application fee as well. A tutorial for filing this online application is available here.
Non-Compliance Crackdowns – Serious Quality Assurance
The year 2011 was a dramatic one for the DM. This was primarily due to the disconnection of utility services to many residential, industrial, and commercial buildings as a result of illegal modifications, partitions, and additions that were made. Warning notices were first sent, following which heavy fines were levied to discourage non-compliance.
Repeated offenses meant that utility services to the offenders were cut off by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). Sometimes unauthorized changes to buildings also run the risk of a lack of fire exits or basic health requirements, and ambiance quality like lighting and ventilation. Once the corrective action was taken, the services were restored to these locations.
If you are looking for Dubai Municipality Approvals, you can contact the Dubai Approvals team for any kind of Approvals.
Procedure for Getting DM Approvals | Get DM Permits Quickly
How to get DM Approvals
Before commencing any work related to the planning and construction of a project under the Dubai Municipality or DM jurisdiction, it is important to first acquire approvals from the Dubai Municipality. DM Dubai provides various approvals for individual, commercial, and Government services, i.e.. Individuals, businesses, as well as Government bodies need to acquire a permit or approval before commencing any project work in Dubai.
Comprehensive Guide to Dubai Municipality (DM) Approvals
Let’s discuss some of the approvals provided by DM and what procedure is required for you to get a DM approval.
New Building Permit from DM:
The building department of DM provides approvals for new buildings. Any individual, business, or Government body with a proposed building plan can avail of this service and get DM approvals for their project. Approval can be obtained for either a structural plan, an architectural plan, or both. The various projects covered under this service include single and multi-story buildings, industrial structures, villas, and floor ratio areas. Before commencing any physical on-site work, it is important to get the primary DM approval to make sure the project work is as per the standards and guidelines of Dubai Municipality; otherwise, no physical work should be started. However, Dubai Municipality does not require you to get primary approval; instead, you can directly apply for final approval.
Process to Get a New Building Permit from the Dubai Municipality Department:
To make sure you get the approval easily, you must follow the given procedure:
- Following the approval from DM, you will get your permit from the DM website.
- When all the documents are successfully submitted, you will be required to pay certain fees. In the case of villas and multi-story buildings (up to 7 floors), an amount of 100 AED is to be paid. 150 AED is to be paid for multi-story buildings with more than 7 floors, and 250 AED is to be paid for floor ratio area buildings. Once the payment is done, you will receive a payment voucher.
- Visit the DM website and apply for the New Building permit. You will be required to submit the structural and architectural drawings as per the type of service you are applying for.
- From the date of submission, within 3-5 working days, you will receive a reply from DM regarding the approval or rejection of your application.
- If the application is rejected, you should then check for the amendments in your application and then resubmit your application on the DM website. The entire process of approval or rejection takes up to 5 working days.
Approval for the issue or renewal of DM Plans
This service is provided by the Survey Department of DM and provides various sub-services like Land Boundary information, zoning regulations, approved number of floors, use of land, land area, setback area, owner of the title, etc. The most important benefit of this service is that it does not take a long duration of time, i.e., in case of renewal of villas, you can get the approval within 15 minutes, and the rest of the services take only 1 working day.
The process to get Dubai Municipality Approval for new or renewal of DM plans:
To ensure a smooth procedure for this approval, follow the given instructions:
- Once your application is reviewed, you will receive notifications regarding the approval or rejection from DM via SMS.
- Visit the Dubai Municipality website, call the customer care center of DM, visit Al Manara Center on Sheikh Zayed Road, or visit the Al Tawar Center in Deira, or Hatta Center, and submit the application form. You will have to submit your UAE identity proof.
- Once you apply, a DM plan to register the land will be issued to you. For this step, you will be required to submit a copy of the Land Department plan, not more than 2 years old, and a delegation letter if your land is within government projects.
- Now you will be required to pay the fees of 200 AED. You will receive a payment voucher that may be helpful for future queries.
- Apart from villas, all other services take 1 working day to complete.
There are several other approvals provided by the Dubai Municipality authority, which can be availed from the official website of DM or various DM-approved offline centers.
The Dubai Municipality approvals process can be very easy, but understanding the nature of your project and then submitting the application for the service can be very complex.
If you are also looking forward to getting DM Approval, then do not worry and leave all the difficulties and complexities to us. Our experts at the Dubai Approvals Team will help you step by step so that you can get your Dubai Approvals on time without any hassle.
We also help you get approvals from various other authorities like Trakhees, DEWA, NAKHEEL, DSO, JAFZA, Food Control Department, EMAAR, RTA, TECOM, DCCA, and Warehouse approvals. So, Contact Us, save your precious time, and start working on your dreams right away.
Some Facts about Dubai Municipality (DM)
The Dubai Municipality has come a long way since its establishment on February 28th, 1957, by the first decree. It provides Dubai Municipal Approval and other services to the population of Dubai and its work includes urban planning, construction supervision, environmental protection and improvement, public parks conservation, regulating and ensuring international quality standards compliance in aspects such as
- construction and building materials
- food & consumable items
- professional services in laboratory certification and accreditation.
Having begun with just 3 operating employees, it has grown into an organization with more than 15,000 staff working in 32 organizational units, making it a major driving force in the development of Dubai City. With a vision of “Developing a happy and sustainable city,” the DM Approval is also instrumental in maintaining the architectural heritage of the emirate through the revival and maintenance of many cultural landmarks.
The Dubai Municipality is currently composed of 34 departments under six sectors, namely:
- Communication & Community Sector
- Corporate Support Sector
- General Support Sector
- Environmental Health & Safety Control Sector
- Environment & Public Health Services Sector
- Engineering & Planning Sector
The services offered by these sectors are segregated into individual, government, and business-centric, with the focus of DM Approval quality control on areas such as Environment and waste, Financial and business, building and land planning, lab testing and accreditation, Public health and consumer safety, drainage and irrigation, veterinary, agriculture and public markets services.
An example of planning assistance by DM
The Dubai Municipality, or DM, has a planning division that allows streamlined submissions to be made from the user end and a legislative system in place to demarcate its jurisdiction.
One example of planning assistance is guidelines for submission of a Masterplan for building plan proposals. Here, the applicant submits a draft proposal for preliminary assessment that covers ownership, on-site, and surrounding region description.
Following this, a final assessment submission requires Non-Objection Certificates from the concerned local authorities (Dubai Police, Civil Aviation, Road Transport Authority, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, etc). Finally, the DM Approval provides a “sign-off sheet” to all service authorities for their approval of the master plan.
After completing all these procedures, a follow-up application needs to be filed online at www.dm.gov.ae which consists of paying the application fee as well. A tutorial for filing this online application is available here.
Non-Compliance Crackdowns – Serious Quality Assurance
The year 2011 was a dramatic one for the DM. This was primarily due to the disconnection of utility services to many residential, industrial, and commercial buildings as a result of illegal modifications, partitions, and additions that were made. Warning notices were first sent, following which heavy fines were levied to discourage non-compliance.
Repeated offenses meant that utility services to the offenders were cut off by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). Sometimes unauthorized changes to buildings also run the risk of a lack of fire exits or basic health requirements, and ambiance quality like lighting and ventilation. Once the corrective action was taken, the services were restored to these locations.
If you are looking for Dubai Municipality Approvals, you can contact the Dubai Approvals team for any kind of Approvals.
Procedure for Getting DM Approvals | Get DM Permits Quickly
How to get DM Approvals
Before commencing any work related to the planning and construction of a project under the Dubai Municipality or DM jurisdiction, it is important to first acquire approvals from the Dubai Municipality. DM Dubai provides various approvals for individual, commercial, and Government services, i.e.. Individuals, businesses, as well as Government bodies need to acquire a permit or approval before commencing any project work in Dubai.
Comprehensive Guide to Dubai Municipality (DM) Approvals
Let’s discuss some of the approvals provided by DM and what procedure is required for you to get a DM approval.
New Building Permit from DM:
The building department of DM provides approvals for new buildings. Any individual, business, or Government body with a proposed building plan can avail of this service and get DM approvals for their project. Approval can be obtained for either a structural plan, an architectural plan, or both. The various projects covered under this service include single and multi-story buildings, industrial structures, villas, and floor ratio areas. Before commencing any physical on-site work, it is important to get the primary DM approval to make sure the project work is as per the standards and guidelines of Dubai Municipality; otherwise, no physical work should be started. However, Dubai Municipality does not require you to get primary approval; instead, you can directly apply for final approval.
Process to Get a New Building Permit from the Dubai Municipality Department:
To make sure you get the approval easily, you must follow the given procedure:
- Following the approval from DM, you will get your permit from the DM website.
- When all the documents are successfully submitted, you will be required to pay certain fees. In the case of villas and multi-story buildings (up to 7 floors), an amount of 100 AED is to be paid. 150 AED is to be paid for multi-story buildings with more than 7 floors, and 250 AED is to be paid for floor ratio area buildings. Once the payment is done, you will receive a payment voucher.
- Visit the DM website and apply for the New Building permit. You will be required to submit the structural and architectural drawings as per the type of service you are applying for.
- From the date of submission, within 3-5 working days, you will receive a reply from DM regarding the approval or rejection of your application.
- If the application is rejected, you should then check for the amendments in your application and then resubmit your application on the DM website. The entire process of approval or rejection takes up to 5 working days.
Approval for the issue or renewal of DM Plans
This service is provided by the Survey Department of DM and provides various sub-services like Land Boundary information, zoning regulations, approved number of floors, use of land, land area, setback area, owner of the title, etc. The most important benefit of this service is that it does not take a long duration of time, i.e., in case of renewal of villas, you can get the approval within 15 minutes, and the rest of the services take only 1 working day.
The process to get Dubai Municipality Approval for new or renewal of DM plans:
To ensure a smooth procedure for this approval, follow the given instructions:
- Once your application is reviewed, you will receive notifications regarding the approval or rejection from DM via SMS.
- Visit the Dubai Municipality website, call the customer care center of DM, visit Al Manara Center on Sheikh Zayed Road, or visit the Al Tawar Center in Deira, or Hatta Center, and submit the application form. You will have to submit your UAE identity proof.
- Once you apply, a DM plan to register the land will be issued to you. For this step, you will be required to submit a copy of the Land Department plan, not more than 2 years old, and a delegation letter if your land is within government projects.
- Now you will be required to pay the fees of 200 AED. You will receive a payment voucher that may be helpful for future queries.
- Apart from villas, all other services take 1 working day to complete.
There are several other approvals provided by the Dubai Municipality authority, which can be availed from the official website of DM or various DM-approved offline centers.
The Dubai Municipality approvals process can be very easy, but understanding the nature of your project and then submitting the application for the service can be very complex.
If you are also looking forward to getting DM Approval, then do not worry and leave all the difficulties and complexities to us. Our experts at the Dubai Approvals Team will help you step by step so that you can get your Dubai Approvals on time without any hassle.
We also help you get approvals from various other authorities like Trakhees, DEWA, NAKHEEL, DSO, JAFZA, Food Control Department, EMAAR, RTA, TECOM, DCCA, and Warehouse approvals. So, Contact Us, save your precious time, and start working on your dreams right away.