The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) wants its powers to be increased so it can be more involved in the approval process of large-scale projects.

Speaking at a Gleaner Editor's Forum recently, Joy Alexander, director of integrated planning and environment, suggested the agency's role needed to be reformed so it could do more than just make recommendations to parish councils. She said while the agency worked very closely with the councils, it needed to be more involved in the approval of development applications.

"Anything that comes out just straight from NEPA, it's a recommendation; or you might ask to comment on a signed application and you send a recommendation ... It (the recommendation) is not a directive; they don't have to go by it," she said.

Alexander's call for increased powers of the agency is supported by university professor Anthony Clayton, who, at a recent forum hosted by Jamaica Trade and Invest (JAMPRO), said the agency's current internal structure was cause for its poor capacity to perform.

Chaotic

He said the agency's triumvirate structure is chaotic and the agency should be brought together under a single NEPA act.

"NEPA operates under six separate legal acts," he said. "Three of these are considered core, including the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Act,the Town and Country Planning Act and the Land Development and Utilisation Act. The other three are the Wild Life Protection Act, the Beach Control Act and the Watersheds Protection Act. Some NEPA functions overlap with those of the OUR," he continued.

He noted that the agency had too many divisions. It has five divisions and 20 branches and is affiliated with 12 government agencies. All applications are sent to the three different boards that govern NEPA, he explained, and the responses from each board are usually variable.

"This is a relatively unusual and complex arrangement, which unsurprisingly, hampers NEPA's operations. These problems have been recognised," he said.

A recommendation has been submitted to Cabinet for its response.

- G.M.