The Government of Grenada is moving aggressively to improve physical planning operations in the country.
Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr the Right Honourable Keith Mitchell, has stated that planning is a critical part of the country’s development and it must be treated more seriously than it currently is.
At a meeting Thursday with top officials associated with physical planning, Dr Mitchell said, “I am very concerned about the level of ad hoc and arbitrary building that is becoming prevalent across the country. Government will be moving quickly to examine the whole structure and make drastic changes. We must protect the integrity of our development process before it causes irreparable damage to our country.”
Dr Mitchell underscored the importance of achieving greater compliance with planning policies, regulations and notices. He said, “We must act quickly to provide more enforcement power with respect to physical planning. It is not acceptable that a stop notice is given and the contractor and/or owner simply ignores this and continues building. That amounts to lawlessness; people cannot be ignoring the laws of the land.”
The Minister of Finance and Planning also cited discrepancies in the approval times and the historic stigma of corruption that has been attached to the Physical Planning Unit and the Planning Authority.
Dr Mitchell said, “It has been brought to my attention that some persons seeking permission to build wait several months for approval while other applications seem to be fast-tracked through the system. This is not right or fair. There must be equity in the approval process. Relatedly, we must also move quickly to change the historic perception that there is corruption in Grenada’s physical planning process. We must have suitably qualified persons to undertake the work and they must operate within the ambit of the law and must be held accountable for their actions.”
Dr Mitchell acknowledged the improvements made with respect to addressing the backlog of applications but he stressed the need to continue finding ways to improve the overall planning function.
One of the imminent changes will be the establishment of a Physical Planning and Development Control Authority with responsibility for overseeing all planning and development matters, including environmental protection.
Office of the Prime Minister
Okay now we understand that Agriculture would just be a waste because we can make little to nothing from it. Tourism will struggle because of what can happen when pandemics and hurricanes occur. So then my question is what about OIL??? The only thing that can bring thousands or if not a hundred thousand people out of poverty. Venezuela the country with the largest oil reserves exports a billion dollars worth of oil, Guyana a country where development is starting to boom and Trinidad what was once the richest country in the world and is now The most developed, The most self sustainable and The richest country in the Caribbean all have oil!! So then what about Grenada??? We are 100 miles north of Venezuela and 50 miles north west of Trinidad. So then where is the oil. Something that can make us worth billions of dollars!!!! Is America stealing it??? Do we access to the waters that have oil or is it that the Government is just too lazy to go find oil??? We need it and when I really mean we need it we just need it.
I think we need to re educate grenadians to not complain but build their country themselves. At the end of the day foreigner or not I dont care hotels are hotels. They need to outdo the chinese and foreigners than complaining. They can build hotels themselves.
Grenadians shut up and stop complaining go out there and build your own hotels. Go do it now. Protest for the government to make it easier for local hotels to be built. Dont protest to end the hotel industry or the construction of foreign hotels because listen. At the end of the day it is a still a hotel. Yes I understand that foreigners want to take over and mistreat people but like I mean cmon! GRENADIANS NEED TO START DEVELOPING THEIR COUNTRY THEMSELVES INSTEAD OF COMPLAINING. START NATIONBUILDING. START SELF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. FIGHT YOUR WAY OUT OF POVERTY. BUILD BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS DONT JUST SIT THERE DORMANT. DO SOMETHING!
Exactly amen. Grenadians need to start taking a page out of what you said. nationbuilding it is!
Some very great words there! Very great! Grenadians need to start building themselves than complain.
I think it’s time that we start going and build our own hotels.
Grenadians need to go construct hotels instead of complaining. That is my only problem stop complaining. Do something about it by constructing hotels. I have no problem with foreigners building hotels or locals building hotels. At the end of the day it is sti a hotel that can bring income and provide jobs. Grenadians should go develop their country about complaining about it.
Exactly that is how qatar and singapore grew. They didnt complain. They built themselves more than foreigners.
Grenadians are too blind to see how much this project can benefit grenadians. Foreigner or not I dont care. Grenada needs hotels. We need to expand the hotel industry to provide jobs and income. If grenadians feel that they are being taken over by foreigners they can open up their own businesses. And that is the problem. People need to stop complaining and go open up their own hotels so that we can have a hotel industry. Instead of the government allowing foreigners to build more hotels make it easier for more hotels to be built by local people. I have no problem with the governemnt once they allow local five star hotels to be built. So that is why I believe that we can develop our country not only by foreigners but locals too. People need to stop complaining and go out there and construct hotels.