The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Arawak Homes’s latest project has been delayed because the “paper isn’t moving fast enough”, its president backing revisions to a Planning and Subdivision Act that it believes is “too cumbersome” in its current form.

Franon Wilson, who is also immediate past president of the Bahamas Real Estate Association (BREA), said recent remarks by Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis about revisions to the Act were “welcome news”.

“The existing Planning and Subdivisions Act 2010 ought not to have been passed in its current form,” Mr Wilson told Tribune Business. “It puts too much of a burden on the Ministry of Works, and it does not include the private sector enough.

“It’s really too cumbersome. Developments that go through Town Planning have the ability to stimulate the economy. The problem is that the paper isn’t moving fast enough, notwithstanding the very competent people working there. Based on the Act there is just too much to deal with. Thats’s one of the most critical departments in government. The quicker things get approved, the quicker developments can stimulate the economy.”

Mr Wilson added: “We’re having an issue right now. We have a development we want to move ahead with, but it’s just the paperwork that’s holding it up. You’ve got a number of people who could be working on that right now that are not.”

He said Arawak Homes was looking to construct a subdivision in the Carmichael area, similar to its 16-lot Premier Estates development, which was launched last June. The company introduced the development at price points it said represented a 12-year low.

Arawak Homes was offering three bed/two bath residential homes with mortgage repayments starting at $227 per week. “Right now we are just helping one or two people with financing, but that is completely sold out and that’s why we’re so confident on this next one and want to go ahead and get it started. The demand is there,” said Mr Wilson.

“We’re still trying to finalise some things for the next one. We wish we could have been further ahead at this point in time. We’re trying to work with the Ministry to move that forward. That’s why the DPM’s comments are welcomed.”

During his 2014-2015 Budget presentation, Mr Davis said the Department of Physical Planning had recently completed revisions to the Planning and Subdivision Act.

“While the draft document retains the present provisions designed to allow proper consultation and review of large, complex development projects, changes are proposed to simplify the process for ordinary applications that comprise 95 per cent of proposals submitted to the department,” said Mr Davis.