THE first phase of the sustainable development plan for Portmore is currently under way, with a series of consultative meetings being carried out in different communities throughout

the municipality.

“Visioning exercises are being held to get views from the people as to the development they want to see in their area in terms of physical infrastructure, governance and social development,” public relations officer at the municipal council Nicole Morrison said.

Morrison told the Observer that at the end of the series of interactive meetings with community representatives, a town meeting would be held to present the views and opinions documented in the smaller sessions.

If the suggestions and ideas coming out of the meeting are deemed to be practical or sustainable, they will then be drafted into the development plan being formulated by the surveying firm Easton Douglas & Company, Morrison said.

Representatives of the municipal council met last Wednesday with residents of Gregory Park and surrounding communities including Christian Pen. According to the council, the major concerns coming out of that meeting had to do with the need for more jobs and the establishment of a skills training centre.

At the first such consultation – convened for the benefit of residents in the southern Greater Portmore region at the Kensington Primary in February – residents raised concerns about the lack of public sanitary conveniences, arguing that a couple should be constructed in the municipality.

The act of sharing the council’s plans with the community and encouraging feedback is part of the local government reform process, which seeks to involve citizens in issues that concern them.

But, the council says, the meetings are not for every community since some are more developed than others.

The development plan is being undertaken in association with the National Housing Trust and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), which has given the council a grant of CD$95,000.