LUCEA, Hanover — The Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) has warned that those found in breach of various building codes when its current amnesty ends next month, will face the full force of the law.

“At the end of the special amnesty programme, the Hanover Municipal Corporation will embark on an aggressive enforcement drive with strong legal action being pursued where necessary. Persons are therefore urged to come in and have their buildings regularised ….” the corporation warned.

On November 1, the HMC initiated the amnesty programme, giving scores of people in the parish who are engaged in unauthorised building activities to regularise them. The initiative ends on March 31.

According to the HMC, during the amnesty, persons will escape prosecution as it pause court actions for the construction of illegal structures.

The corporation said it will also provide a payment plan for building approvals, implement a speedy approval process and guide persons without land titles through the process of becoming regularised.

“So the overall essence of the amnesty is that if you don’t have any proof of ownership, if you don’t have, even the surveyors diagram, or you are struggling in terms of finding the cost, come in, talk to us, and we’ll see how best we can assist you in ensuring that your building is safe and is constructed in a safe manner,” said Garry McLean, the physical planner at the Hanover Municipal Corporation.

Since the amnesty began, he said, about 15 persons have come in to discuss the matter.

“So we are hoping now that since our Christmas break would have been out, we’ll see that increase in numbers moving from January to March. So, we are hoping that at least as a corporation we can see that vast number of persons coming in to apply and use the amnesty,” expressed McLean, stressing that at the end of the amnesty, persons found to be in breach will be prosecuted through the courts.

He told the Jamaica Observer West that the parish has a high number of breaches.

“We have a high amount of breaches. Persons would not be aware, for example, that if they have a previous approved building and they are doing an extension, they still need approval from the council [corporation]. So, you will have persons doing an extension that the council [corporation] is not aware of. You have persons who are building structures that the council is not aware of, every structure in itself needs an approval,” explained the senior officer.

“Based on enforcement actions that would have gathered over the years… even last year, we know that there is a big magnitude of unauthorised illegal structures that are going on. We are not really sure of the amount, but the number in itself could be within the hundreds,” said Mc Lean.

With only two enforcement officers, he noted that the corporation is currently limited in carrying out enforcement actions, adding that10 officers would be ideal.

“We have two officers. The two officers cannot be everywhere at one time. So, we are heavily dependent on the church groups, civic groups, everybody within the parish of Hanover to play their part in helping the council [corporation] realise the vision of ensuring that we have legal structures. So once they see a building going up, if they have any doubt, they should come in and complain, and we will immediately go out, investigate and then take the necessary actions,” McLean explained.