Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer

Hugh Dixon, executive director of the Southern Trelawny Environment Agency. - photo by Adrian Frater

WESTERN BUREAU:

Executive director of the Southern Trelawny Environment Agency (STEA), Hugh Dixon, says he is in support of Government's decision to grant development approvals within 90 days.

Speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum at the Western Bureau in Montego Bay, Tuesday, Dixon said developments should not be stymied because of protracted waiting periods.

"I don't believe that you should take more than three months to give a permit," Dixon said. "It can be finished in three months. I am pro-development. It has to happen. But it must happen with the context of careful, rational and well-understood lines.

"I think in 90 days, if a developer comes with a clear plan, the agency that is associated with it should be able to give quickly a clear indication as to what are the things you need to look at," he said.

Independent entity

"Secondly, they should be able to find an independent environmental entity that can do an environmental impact assessment (EIA) related to that, or instruct that entity to make entities make the bids to the state agency, who will select and they pay the bill for who it is that will do the EIA."

Last December, Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced that in the near future, it would take 90 days to complete all approvals for new developments, once the plan had been submitted and no breaches found. At the time, Golding said the present system was hamstrung by bureaucracy, involved meeting varied statutory requirements of different agencies.

He said that for the proposed changes to work, the entire process had to be monitored to ensure conformity, and that the local authorities would have to be equipped with the institutional capacity to monitor compliance of applications with building and other codes.

Executive director of the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association, Wendy Lee, said some developments could be given the go-ahead in three months, but only after a sustainable development planning framework is put in place. She said this should also be dependent on the magnitude of the proposed projects.

Permit duration

"I would never agree that all permits can be given within 90 days, because some projects are quite large. Ninety days can be used to determine whether some things require more time, but you would need a sustainable development plan - a basic framework and an environmental assessment in the area in which the application falls, which would give some idea of carrying capacity and so on," Lee said.