Progress being made

The recently formed Planning and Development Department has made significant progress in reducing the backlog of planning applications, says Senior Minister with responsibility for infrastructural projects Dr William Duguid.

He reported on Friday that 1 600 approvals have been granted since January, as the department shifts through a large number of applications for new construction projects.

“….And those run the gamut – be it commercial, be it houses, be it private entities and all sorts of things,” Duguid disclosed as he toured the construction site for the new Hotel Indigo in Hastings, Christ Church.

“What the Planning and Development new legislation did, is [that] it put a board in place and that board oversees all of the additional planning permissions, conditions, and helps to bring that transparency to the process. The other thing it did…is that it set timelines, and the Planning Department and the board works very hard to keep to those timelines,” he further explained

(From left) Director of Caribbean Consultants Limited James Edghill, Senior Minister Dr William Dugiud and Kevin Farmer from BMHS.

Minister Duguid added that the e-portal platform used for new planning applications as well as the digitising of records had been running smoothly.

He expects an uptick in approved projects in the near future, in keeping with the Government’s current growth strategy.

When questioned about the numerous delays in some capital works projects, including the Hyatt Hotel in Bay Street, Duguid admitted that the hold-ups were a concern.

“Governments are never happy with delays because obviously, we want everything to happen as quickly as possible because it means construction jobs for people [and] it means jobs after the projects are finished,” he said.

“Some of these projects, it’s not like financing a house or a small apartment block; these are hundreds of millions of dollars and many times, multiple people have to come together to finance it, not one person, not one company, not one bank entity can finance and especially those large projects.”

However, the Minister assured that progress was being made on some projects such as the Sam Lord’s Hotel which is nearing completion.

“I am reasonably satisfied with the pace at Sam Lord’s Castle and, as I understand it, they will be having a job fair very shortly so that we can start the process of training people to be able to work at Sam Lord’s Castle.

“It’s going to be the largest hotel in Barbados by far, 420-odd rooms, and that is coming to an end from an infrastructure point of view, and then it will move into the tourism development side of things which will be happening earlier in the new year,” he added.

Minister Duguid was joined on the tour by Deputy Director of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society (BMHS) Kevin Farmer and Director of Caribbean Consultants Limited James Edghill as workers continued piling operations for the new hotel.

During that process, workers will be cooperating with the BMHS to unearth any artefacts found on site.

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb