JAMAICA’S infrastructure is struggling to keep pace with the island’s rapid development, as a surge in construction projects fuels concerns about the adequacy of the existing drainage systems and road network to cope as flooding gets more frequent in urban areas while the daily commute resembles a funeral procession.

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is racing to address the issue, with Chief Executive Officer Leonard Francis warning that the country’s growth is being threatened by inadequate planning and insufficient investment in critical infrastructure.

“Infrastructure is trying to catch up with the rapid developments happening in our society,” Francis said during a recent THROP X business conference.

When questioned about plans to address traffic congestion caused whenever there is heavy rainfall, Francis emphasised that it results from the toll that rapid development has taken on Jamaica’s infrastructure. He pointed to new housing and hotel developments that forged ahead during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, without a similarly quick improvement in the drainage system to deal with the added waste water flow.

“We’ve had several reports to fix various roadways, and NEPA is exploring a concept to absorb water, like using the National Stadium,” he suggested.

To help mitigate the impact of heavy rainfall on paved surfaces, NEPA is encouraging commercial and residential developers to incorporate features such as underground pools and permeable surfaces into their designs.

This, as Francis notes, the underlying cause of the flooding is climate change, with the increasing frequency of intense rainfall events overwhelming the country’s drainage systems, which were designed to handle less frequent and less intense storms. To address these challenges, Francis said NEPA is experimenting with various solutions, including encouraging citizens to harvest rainwater and expanding the drainage network. However, he pointed out that more needs to be done, including increasing enforcement and education efforts.

“While engineers design for events, the fact is the events are happening too frequently,” he acknowledged.

One of the critical drainage network in the capital, the Sandy Gully, is set for expansion to handle more water run-off when it rains. Other projects to improve the drainage network are also being planned, but Francis also wants developers to adhere to the specifications for the drainage systems approved in their projects to help the situation.

“What is really happening is that persons are not putting in what has been approved,” he said.

He added that the paving of yard spaces, which prevents water from soaking into the soil, exacerbates the situation by causing run-off onto roads. To address these issues, Francis called for increased enforcement and better public education, stressing that citizens also have a role to play in improving water management. He noted that the Government needs to upgrade infrastructure to cope with these challenges but underscored that it is a collective responsibility.

Turning to the ongoing development in Negril, he shared that the new development order that aims to introduce changes to the existing building regulations in the area is still under review by NEPA as stakeholders continue to provide feedback.

“It has been draughted for quite some time, and it has been doing the rounds. How it is done is one thing, but when the document is ready to be promulgated, someone often says, ‘Stop, I don’t agree with this’,” he explained.

NEPA plays a crucial role in reviewing development orders. The Negril and Green Island Development Order has been the subject of controversy, with some stakeholders opposing the proposed density and development guidelines. One of the key issues is the proposed removal of the lot size clause to accommodate a new concept in Negril: small villas that homeowners can rent to tourists. Currently, policies restrict certain aspects of this idea. Francis explained that the existing system classifies any development with more than one house as multi-family, and NEPA aims to change this by removing the lot size requirement for such developments.

“We’re near there, but there are still some holdouts,” Francis said. “We’ll just have to make a decision and move on.”

The current Negril and Green Island Development Order is available on NEPA’s website, and stakeholders are encouraged to review and provide feedback on the proposed changes.