by Curlan Campbell
- Physical Planning Unit operated under 1988 regulations; 2011 draft regulations not yet enacted
- Current unregulated construction sector hinders economy
- Updated fee structure will include payment directly to PDA
Grenada’s newest statutory body is expected to address the complex challenges by reforming the regulatory system of Grenada’s building and construction sector.
A comprehensive organisational restructuring comes in transitioning Government’s Physical Planning Unit into a Statutory Body, now known as the Planning and Development Authority (PDA).
The transition, which took effect 1 May 2023, means the previous executing agent, the Physical Planning Unit under the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, Public Utilities and Civil Aviation, will cease to serve as the executing agency of the Physical Planning and Development Act, 2017. While this transition into a modern organisation is now in full effect, there exists the need to have archaic regulations brought up to date to match the mandates of the new authority.
“We currently operate under the 1988 regulations, which are woefully inadequate and way out of its reach in terms of its time and appropriateness. There are draft regulations which came about in 2011; however, those have not been yet enacted, and there has to be a number of amendments to them in order for them to bring it up to date,” said Kennie John, PDA Deputy Chairman.
Other aspects of the PDA mandates include developing and implementing national physical planning policies, promoting sustainable land use practices, and coordinating development projects nationwide.
During his presentation at the PDA launch, John pointed to the current unregulated construction sector as hindering an economy that prioritises the environment, society, and governance.
“Physical development is as important to our economic development and our social development,” he said. “They are all linked. A lot of what happens to us in this part of the world is that we tend not to link things. We tend to have them isolated, and when they are isolated, what tends to happen is that you find competing forces and never in unison. Therefore, it is important that we actually have something like this in place to make sure that we can go ahead cohesively.”
One of several mandates of the authority will be to ensure the building regulatory system is efficient and to support the building and construction sector to lift performance by modernising the country’s construction sector with new building guidelines. A Physical Integrity and Compliance department will also be established to address the erection of structures not approved by the authority and to deal with the issue of derelict buildings.
According to the Deputy Chairman, another major undertaking is the restructuring and updating the current fee structure, which will be payable directly to the authority and no longer to the Inland Revenue Division. He also indicated that the authority would run on government subventions for the next 3 years as they take control of all aspects of the organisation.
The Future Planning Unit and the Quality Control Unit is another major upgrade to ensure that development is carried out sustainably and beneficially to the nation.
The digitisation of architectural plans through Building Information Modelling technology will also be instituted to manage information in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. The authority will also introduce a modern online application platform allowing customers to submit plans online, receive approvals and review the process virtually.
Other areas that will be monitored closely will be zoning and land use, licencing and registration, identifying and appropriately dealing with false declarations of projects submitted for approval to the PDA, and ensuring that Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) guidelines are followed.
The current Board Members are:
- Kenrick Fullerton, Chairman
- Kennie John, Deputy Chairman
- Marlon Joseph
- Phillip Alexander
- Lennox Archibald
- Lachaba Joseph
- Christopher Whint
- Kevin Blanche
- Christopher Husbands
Let me tell you what is holding back the nation in the planning/construction area, and that is the The Alien Landholding License amounts to 10% of the property price when they buy and further 15% when they sell. Considering that a home will be constructed on the land, the 15% selling tax will include the value of the house and the land. This of course doesn’t apply to Grenadians but it does affect them in every area of material supply and tradesmen, Land makes a terrible investment in Grenada for Aliens and they won’t throw their foreign currency at it with these overhanging and unfair penalties
Hope this move will stop the curruption that has plagued the PPU for years. I personally believe that Grenada can be a better place to live if all the corruption /bubbul is taken care off. Some of the areas of concern are: the Public Service Departments as a whole, the Construction Industry,
the vending Agriculture and Fishing industry etc. This Government has a once in a political lifetime to bring about the changes necessary to build a strong Economic Social and United Grenada. Let’s Get It Done.
All lands must be zoned.
Sounds like a positive change!!