Structure Approved to Strengthen Building Enforcement by Municipal Corporations

A new structure has been approved for municipal corporations, which will provide for engagement of additional building and planning officers.

“That will give us a little more room in terms of addressing some of the issues within the built environment,” said State Minister in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Delroy Williams.

He was addressing the opening ceremony for the seventh regional disability studies conference at the Faculty of Law Lecture Theatre, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus on April 28.

The increase in the number of building and planning officers will strengthen the capacity of municipal corporations to issue building approvals, conduct site inspections and ensure compliance with legal standards and safety regulations in keeping with the Building Act 2018.

A key provision of the Act is that all new public and commercial buildings must be designed with accessibility, safety, and user-friendliness for persons with disabilities.

“When we are talking about access to amenities, access to recreational spaces, access to buildings, access on our roadways, these are issues that our building officers are well acquainted with. We need the number of building officers to be able to supervise what is happening within the built environment to ensure that the developers and persons who are building, they build in accordance with the Building Act,” he said.

He noted that the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Bill and the projects that will be implemented will impact persons with disabilities in a major way.

“These projects are intended to build resilience within our country but taking into consideration, serious consideration, the persons with disabilities,” he stated.

Director, UWI Centre for Disability Studies, Professor Senator Floyd Morris, in his remarks, said that the organisation continues to press for greater accessibility and inclusion for persons with disabilities “because we know that an accessible society is critical to the advancement of persons with disabilities”.

“The Caribbean is making progress. Thus far, eight countries in the region have established legislation to protect persons with disabilities, and I am aware of another two that are currently drafting legislation to protect persons with disabilities, but we need to push for greater accessibility for public facilities, for access to information, for benefits and services for persons with disabilities. When we build an inclusive society, we build it for the better, we build it for all and that includes persons with disabilities,” he said.

He reminded people that disabilities respect no one. “You might be able-bodied today and be disabled tomorrow, so let us create that society that we would want to live in if we developed a disability,” Professor Morris said.

The two-day conference, under the theme ‘Building an Accessible Caribbean for Persons with Disabilities’, concludes on April 29.