HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Permits are piling up in Honolulu just weeks after a new system was put in place to try and speed up the process.

The city Department of Planning and Permitting said the $5.4M HNL Build system, which was paid for using federal funds, launched on Aug. 4.

It has not been a smooth transition from the 27-year-old previous system so far.

The city admits there have been challenges with the change.

“There’s incredible frustration,” said council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam.

“We were promised a system that would be much more efficient, you know, be much more user-friendly, and as it turns out it’s anything but that.”

Between Aug. 4 and Sept. 18, the city issued 352 building permits. In the same time span last year, 1,932 were issued, five times the current amount.

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