Kingston and St. Andrew PDC and Partners in MOU for Sustainable Development

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Development Committee (PDC) and nine strategic partners, to prepare and implement a sustainable development plan for the parish, is on track.
This was disclosed today by Jacquelin Stevens, Secretariat Manager of the PDC and Project Manager of the Cities Alliance-funded project, at a seminar held for KSAC Councillors at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.
Miss Stevens said the other partners were the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Social Development Commission (SDC), the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, the Ministry of Land and Environment, Kingston Restoration Company (KRC), and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT). “One of the activities of the Alliance-funded project, to be financed by the World Bank and the partners, is partnership building, which is, building the capacities of the various partners and stakeholders,” Miss Stevens pointed out.
“We feel that the Councillors of the KSAC are important partners, because they are the ones who will be coming up with the policies, approving plans and implementing the sustainable development plan, once it is completed,” she added.
The idea, she said, was to have an orientation for the Councillors, so that they might understand what sustainable development planning was, and what the project was all about. “We thought it would be good to have a series of seminars for the Councillors.as well as other stakeholders and partners, including the Parliament, planners and architects and other private sector groups,” Miss Stevens said.
Funding for the US$586,000 project will come from the Cities Alliance of the World Bank and the other local partners, with Cities Alliance providing US$256,000 and the other partners, US$330,000.
As well as partnership building, other components of the project include local sustainable development planning, communication, early actions and national linkages. The planning component has several activities, one of which is visioning, whereby citizens are invited to discuss what they want for Kingston and St. Andrew.
The Kingston and St. Andrew PDC is one of 14 set up under Local Government Reform, and the idea is to increase the participation of civil society in the development and management of the respective parishes.