The first draft of the National Physical Development Plan (NPDP) was presented to stakeholders of various government departments earlier this week.
Consultant for the National Land Use Project, Rory Baksh, who was contracted by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), presented the draft at a press conference held at the Dominica Banana Marketing Corporation (DBMC). He gave an overview of the entire project process.
“Where we are today is we have a draft plan that has been prepared and we are conducting our stakeholder consultation again with the intent of making sure that even more inputs from Dominicans could be incorporated into the plan…to ensure that as we refine the plan and make it better that again it will reflect what you inspire for your future and legacy that you would like to leave behind,” he said.
The project has been ongoing since December of 2013 but was launched in January 2014.
The NPDP is part of a two-part project that was organized by the CDB in collaboration with the Physical Planning Division of Dominica.
The first part was the development of the National Land Use Policy (NLUP) and the second is the NPDP.
The first phase entailed the preparation of the NLUP which was completed in May 2014 and approved by Cabinet in May 2015, while Phase 2 is the preparation of the NPDP which will be guided by the NLUP.
Baksh congratulated Dominica for having an approved NLUP.
“Very few countries in the Eastern Caribbean or the Caribbean have a policy such as this that the government approved. Because it is cabinet approved, it will influence decisions in all different sectors,” he stated.
He continued, “It is something that is very rare in the Caribbean and it is something that Dominica can be very proud of. It is seen as the best practice and other jurisdictions are looking now to the success Dominica has achieved and are hoping to do similar types of Land Use Policy and of course Physical Developing Planning.”
Baksh stated further that NLUP, which was approved by Cabinet in May 2015, provides broad statements about land use, growth development, environmental conservation, tourism, social development, climate change resilience, risk management that will collectively help drive the country forward.
“We need to strengthen the planning framework in Dominica and ensure that people are working within a framework and that the physical planning department is continuing to do the good work that it needs to do in collaboration with the other government agencies,” he noted.
According to Baksh one thing that Dominica has done very effectively that other Caribbean countries have not done is, “make its data readily available for those that would like to see it or want to use it…”
“In terms of where we have been and we are headed we have completed all of the background research and an understanding of issues, stakeholder feedback most recently in January. We are in the process of working through the planning exercise,” he said.
Who is going to enforce those plans? Waste of time and money! So many things on paper in this country but no practicality.
Although I welcome a land use policy and national physical development plan, these are not going to make any difference to how things are done in Dominica. The government who pays consultants for drawing up policies and legislation and enact these same legislation ignore them in practice. The government typically does not submit ist building plans for review and approval by the Physical Planning Unit despite having enacted the Physical Planning Act. Dominica is not a serious country as Prime Minister Skerrit himself has observed. He thrives in an environment of apathy.
Please go to http://www.physicalplanning.gov.dm for the public documents.
make its data readily available for those that would like to see it or want to use it…”
pls post the research in a public forum