PRIME MINISTER CONFIRMS WASTE-TO-ENERGY AND DEVELOPMENT APPROVALS PROCESS AS LINCHPINS IN NATIONAL GROWTH AGENDA
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced that the Government will be placing special emphasis on securing private investor interest in its programme of waste to energy conversion.
In his contribution to the 2016/17 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister noted that the Government will develop partnerships with a view to creating a waste to energy Plant, using the island’s Disposal Sites as the providers of the1.6 million tonnes of garbage that is deposited in them each year.
“The Riverton disposal site is situated on over 42 hectares (100 acres) of land in the western end of St Andrew. This site which serves Kingston, St. Andrew, and St. Catherine receives approximately 60% of the national waste deposits each day. The Government of Jamaica will undertake waste to energy developments, converting the waste at the disposal sites to useful energy for the country. The Government will develop an RFP geared towards attracting investors to develop a modern and comprehensive Waste to Energy System.”
The Prime Minister added that the Waste to Energy programme will strongly contribute to national energy security, vastly improved solid waste management and the maintenance of public health.
Currently, the management of solid waste is the responsibility of the National Solid Waste Management Authority, which is an Agency of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.
Mr. Holness also disclosed the intention of the Government to increase the speed of the development approvals process, for which the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development is responsible, as an investment incentive to drive infrastructure development and job creation as part of the Administration’s Prosperity agenda.
“The Government intends to make significant strides in improving the process for land development applications and approvals. We will increase the pace of implementation of the web-based software to Automate the Development
Application and Approvals Process (AMANDA). This will provide greater transparency, improved applications tracking and management and improved customer service. The Government will very soon amend the necessary regulations to make it a mandatory requirement for the electronic submission and processing of all building and land development applications.”
