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Online Portal to Fast-Track Applications for Development Permits

By: , June 27, 2017

The Key Point:

A Development Applications Review Process (DARP) Public Portal 11 has been created to improve the process of application for environmental and construction permits.
Online Portal to Fast-Track Applications for Development Permits
Photo: Mark Bell
Principal Director of the Public Sector Modernisation Programmme, Office of the Cabinet, Wayne Robertson.

The Facts

  • The online portal, scheduled to be launched in December 2017, will be implemented at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and three municipal corporations – Kingston and St Andrew, St. Ann and St. James.
  • Principal Director of the Public Sector Modernisation Programmme, Office of the Cabinet, Wayne Robertson, said the implementation of the portal will play a major role in improving Jamaica’s global competitiveness rankings and boosting economic growth and development.

The Full Story

A Development Applications Review Process (DARP) Public Portal 11 has been created to improve the process of application for environmental and construction permits.

It is part of the Application Management and Data Automation (AMANDA) system aimed at improving the ease of doing business with municipal corporations and key government agencies.

The online portal, scheduled to be launched in December 2017, will be implemented at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and three municipal corporations – Kingston and St Andrew, St. Ann and St. James.

It will be implemented in other parish councils after the testing phase.

A sensitisation session on the e-portal was held on June 22 at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, to explain how the system will work and at the same time get feedback from users.

Principal Director of the Public Sector Modernisation Programmme, Office of the Cabinet, Wayne Robertson, said the implementation of the portal will play a major role in improving Jamaica’s global competitiveness rankings and boosting economic growth and development.

This, he said, is key in helping to achieve the Economic Growth Council’s (EGC) target of five per cent growth over four years.

He said it is important that the system works as intended.

“So, if the system is down, it does not help the customer, and it does not help our abilities to achieve growth,” Mr. Robertson pointed out.

Mayor of St. James, Homer Davis, said the tool will help to fast-track the approval time for developers, who, he said, have often lamented the slow application process.

He said the portal will also allow developers to submit and monitor their applications online as they proceed through the various approval agencies.

“We need the best for our country, and we must ensure that development takes place in a timely and orderly fashion to match the capacity of the population and the types of investments that we accommodate,” he said.

The public session was attended by the Director of Special Projects at JAMPRO, Marjorie Straw; Mayors of Trelawny, Hanover and Westmoreland, officers from the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, Directors of Planning from the municipal corporations and officers from NEPA.

The AMANDA is a web-based application management system that allows applicants for building and development permits to track the status and progress of their applications as it is reviewed by the relevant agencies.

The system is part of an ongoing programme to improve the development applications process in order to reduce delays, promote transparency, and ultimately generate large investments.
AMANDA has been installed in all local authorities, and major commenting agencies such as the Ministry of Health and NEPA.

Last Updated: June 27, 2017

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