THE EDITOR, Sir:

I sincerely hope that after the political point-scoring surrounding the inappropriate behaviour of Mr. Lester Crooks with the Fiesta Hotel developers, which led to his resignation as mayor, that concrete changes will be made.

For example, I hope structures will be put in place not only to improve the financial accountability of the parish councils, but more importantly, government ministries.

I hope that Minister Peart's investigation into this incident will not be myopic, to just focus on how building fees precipitated this situation, but also investigate the whole matter of how draconian building and subdivision fees are stifling the whole development process.

Fee varies

These fees which are set by individual parish councils vary from a high of one per cent of the land value on the tax roll (LVTR) plus 1.0 per cent of the infrastructure cost (I.C.) plus $1,500.00 per lot, to 0.5 per cent of LVTR plus 0.5 per cent of I.C. These costs become exorbitant on large projects especially in a hotel, or townhouse and apartment projects where the building drawings being approved in most cases are similar for each floor. These costs bear no relationship with the services being rendered to approve these plans, and help to stifle development.

In addition to the high building fees, the 13 per cent stamp duty and transfer tax and the 16.5 per cent GCT on all professional fees and building materials, make the government's take on most development about 20 per cent of the development cost. However, most developers who take the risk do not get this return on investment.

Perhaps the LVTR and I.C. charge rate should be lower over a certain amount. However, the whole development process, including the fee structure, needs to be overhauled after input from the interested parties (developers, land surveyors and architects, etc.) to make the process more investor-friendly to facilitate a more ordered and timely development.

I am, etc.,

AINSWORTH DICK

Commissioned land surveyor