KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) needs more building inspectors to vet the growing number of apartment and housing developments under construction in the Corporate Area, Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams has said. 

At the council meeting on Tuesday, Williams outlined several measures that he said would make it more difficult for developers to breach planning regulations when constructing apartments and housing developments. 

But after the council meeting, the mayor told OBSERVER ONLINE that ” a lot is required and more staff is needed,” to inspect the buildings under construction.   

He said that the KSAMC currently had a total of 11 building inspectors, six of whom could be classified as senior officers with many years of experience.

Williams said that the need for the number of building inspectors at the KSAMC to be increased was being discussed with the Ministry of Local Government and he was hoping for a positive outcome.

The mayor told the council meeting that under the new guidelines for a building application to be accepted, the Building and Town Planning Department will require that the notice of intent to build be evidenced on the building application.

To enable the corporation to keep track of building developments in the municipality, another guideline requires the Building Department to give the KSAMC CEO on the last day of every month, a list of all the new building constructions taking place in the Corporate Area.

The mayor said that the Building Department is also being required to monthly check the number of specified inspections on every building under construction in the Corporate Area. He said that before a new stage of a building under construction can begin, the building officer will be required to sign off on the completed previous stage of the construction.

The mayor also disclosed that building approvals at the KSAMC are no longer being handled by a single building officer.

“The process will need the approval of several building officers,” Williams said.

He said that at the next meeting of the Building and Town Planning Committee, all of the councillors will be allowed to criticise and make recommendations to improve the process.

Claudene Edwards