The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A prominent developer yesterday said its "frustration level is super high" over planning "bottlenecks" that present "a recipe for disaster" in efforts to revive the Bahamian domestic economy.

Franon Wilson, Arawak Homes president, told Tribune Business that two of its housing developments involving a combined 50 lots had spent months before the planning authority awaiting approval with more applications set to be presented imminently.

Arguing that the COVID-19 pandemic has "shone a bright light" on the under-staffed and resourced planning departments, Mr Wilson urged the Government to rapidly rethink and speed up all real estate-related processes with the aim of expediting viable projects and taking Bahamians off the National Insurance Board (NIB) line.

Acknowledging that these processes were "already not the fastest in the world" before the pandemic struck, he added that the present situation is "the opposite of what we need as a country at this time" given The Bahamas' desperate need to reboot the economy and put persons back to work.

The Arawak Homes chief said significant demand for home ownership remained among government and "essential workers" whose jobs and incomes had been unaffected by COVID-19 related lockdowns, with the company adjusting its product to the new economic realities by offering vacant lots - something it had ceased for "20-plus years" prior to the pandemic.

"The biggest challenge we have today is the fact the paperwork is not moving in the ministries on the Government side; it's not moving as quickly as the demand," Mr Wilson told this newspaper. "In particular, the Department of Physical Planning.

"Everything has to go through Physical Planning if you want to develop anything. What COVID-19 has highlighted is the fact Physical Planning is severely under-resourced... We right now have looked at our land bank, people have come in and said they want to buy in these areas, and we have proposed communities we want to develop and put people to work. But the paperwork is literally parked."

Besides Physical Planning, which prepares and vets all planning applications for presentation to the Town Planning Committee and final approval, Mr Wilson said COVID-19 had also exposed the inability of agencies such as the Registrar General's Department - critical for title searches and the recording of conveyances - to function remotely in the digital environment.

"They were closed, really closed," he added. "While construction was allowed to continue, Physical Planning and Town Planning were closed for some time." Under the Planning and Subdivisions Act 2010, no lot can be sold or subdivision can be developed without Town Planning's approval.

Mr Wilson said he was unaware if the Town Planning Committee had started meeting again, or had even increased the frequency of its hearings. However, he said it was disconcerting that, with the Town Planning Committee typically meeting "every other week", any queries they raised over an application - even simple ones - were pushed back to the next hearing, delaying projects by a further two weeks.

"The Government has never staffed that department properly to enforce the Planning and Subdivisions Act," the Arawak Homes president said of Physical Planning. "What COVID-19 has done is shine a bright light on that fact.

"Using us as an example, we want to develop communities and, when we do, put people to work. Demand is super strong, frustration levels are super high. It's not directed at anyone in particular; I know the people in Physical Planning are all doing the work of two people, but today that's a bottleneck.

"This is a situation the Government should not have where the private sector wants to put people to work, and the Government is effectively telling the, to stay home. That's a recipe for disaster, but that's where we are," Mr Wilson continued.

"Right now, in front of Town Planning, we have two developments that we need from them. That's about 50 lots, 50 home sites. We've needed that for the last few months. Right now we're working on next week sending them a few more. The private sector wants to get people to work, but we cannot show you a lot by law because Town Planning has not approved us yet."

Real estate, construction and related sectors, with their ties to foreign direct investment (FDI), remain key industries with the potential to tide the Bahamian economy over and gain some foreign exchange earnings in the interim until tourism revives.

This, in turn, makes it critical to overcome any planning obstacles. Mr Wilson urged the Government to "take a long look" at this area and rapidly streamline bureaucracy, adding that it should not be confined to just Physical Planning but also extend to other agencies such as the Registrar General.

"We need the registries to be open longer to do title searches. When you have some registries open by appointment only, a few people in there at a time to do title searches, it makes the process - which was already not the fastest in the world - further extended and delays activity," he said.

"That's the opposite of what we need as a country at this time. The Government needs to be saying what needs to be done to speed up activity. Our system was not designed for what we are seeing now, and we have to respond.

"In one instance the Town Planning Committee had a question, which they had a right to ask, but when the answer can be given very quickly you have to wait two weeks to go back and hear that. A problem that ought to take no more than two to three days can take a month," Mr Wilson continued.

"What can we do to mobilise a system that clears these bottlenecks to get things to happen, because if they do more people will come off the social security line. Every project that's delayed, someone's going to be more challenged. The Government needs to really take a look and say what we have to do to move things forward. This is the time."

Mr Wilson added that while demand for housing and home ownership remained strong despite COVID-19's economic impact, there was a difference between this "desire" and the ability to convert such dreams into reality.