MAYOR GEORGE Lee of the Portmore Municipal Council in St. Catherine is talking tough about building breaches which have long been the bane of municipal authority.
Mr. Lee last week threatened court action against persons who have expanded residential structures in breach of the Town and Country Planning Act; and in some instances converted buildings for commercial activity.
The mayor is going up against more than the breaching of regulations. He is attempting to tackle a long ingrained aversion to rules which have not been enforced; in the case of the new municipality the breaches were accumulated when Portmore was under the administration of the St. Catherine Parish Council.
The classic case in such matters is that of Auburn Court Limited versus the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) over a $16-million building which was slated to be the island's first bowling alley, but has been ordered demolished by the Privy Council, no less. Even so after eight years the issue is still unresolved and may be headed back to the Privy Council.
The critical issue cited in these matters is that construction has been started without the requisite approval. In many issues municipal authorities have not exercised zero tolerance, either from lack of specialised expertise or from ineffective administrative authority. Both these elements may be some of the factors that should be taken care of in the much talked about reform of local government.
A potentially good example of the kind of approach that is needed should come from the instance of illegal squatting now being challenged in Old Harbour Bay, St. Catherine. Danville Walker, the CEO of the Organisation of National Reconstruction (ONR), has warned the squatters to quit the Bourkesfield property, which is slated to accommodate dislocated victims of last year's Hurricane Ivan. The concrete structures being erected there, Mr. Walker says, are designed to hoodwink the relief effort.
Municipal authorities must be made to monitor building breaches and spike them in the egg. In short, policies of prevention must be enacted and implemented in good time and the designated officers must do their jobs
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