EDITORIAL - Move with hurricane speed

With an extremely active hurricane season predicted for 2013, it is understandable that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller is anxious to get Jamaica in disaster-preparedness mode in order to avert wide-scale catastrophe in the event that the island is hit by adverse weather systems.

One of the concerns articulated by Mrs Simpson Miller when she met with her National Disaster Committee this week is the risk to life and property posed by persons who erect structures and live in no-building and disaster-prone areas. Hence, her expressed anxiety to see the enactment of a new Building Act which would embody a revision of the current building code.

The legislation is designed, in part, to empower Government to prevent construction in disaster-risk areas and permit compulsory evacuation where there is potential danger. In this regard, the criminal-justice system has a primary role to play in detecting and punishing criminal violations.

So as necessary as this legislation may be considered, let us not forget that there are various oversight agencies, including the National Environment and Planning Agency, the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation and parish councils, the National Works Agency, etc., which have the ability to ensure that land is settled with due regard to zoning laws and planned development.

Parish councils are the local planning authorities with responsibility for evaluating building applications and approving or denying requests. The councils can also impose conditions relating to elevation, structural integrity, setback, size, etc. Persons wishing to engage in construction must meet requirements under the Town and Country Planning Act, the Land Improvement Act, and the Parish Councils (KSAC) Building Act.

WEAK ON ENFORCEMENT

So we are not short of laws and regulations, but we are woefully weak on enforcement. Regulations are ignored often because corrupt officials have accepted bribes, or the building inspectorate is overburdened and unable to adequately monitor construction activities. And another important factor is the political milieu in which these agencies operate and which is a major influence on actions taken and against whom.

While recognising the urgent need for legislation, there is a deeply entrenched problem: the huge housing deficit, especially among low-income Jamaicans. Various initiatives under different administrations have attempted, but failed, to significantly reduce the gap between homeowners and those with such ambitions.

The crawling pace of the National Shelter Strategy has guaranteed that this much-needed measure has not come up with a cohesive and imaginative shelter plan. The result is that people continue to squat on lands anywhere they feel they can get away with it, including within flood plains and on gully banks.

When Prime Minister Simpson Miller called on local government authorities to take greater interest in ensuring that people adhere to building codes, she was acknowledging this very fact. There are, currently, many agencies that are charged with the responsibility of granting approvals for development, but the laws and regulations are not being enforced.

Squatting, itself, has become a political issue, and many parliamentarians with an eye on the next election are rarely willing to spearhead change. If enforcement is dominated by political considerations, no new legislative action will result in real reform.

The report from the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management that, in 12 years (2000 to 2012), Jamaica suffered $14 billion in losses because of disasters, should awaken a sense of urgency in stakeholders and citizens to take disaster management and preparedness seriously.

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