Frequently Asked Questions about the Regional Planning Programme

1. What is the Regional Planning Programme?

   The Regional Planning Programme is one programme being implemented by the Local Area and Regional Planning and Development Unit within the Ministry of Local Government. Its purpose is to facilitate the preparation of Development Plans for the fourteen (14) Municipal Corporations under the purview of the Ministry of Local Government.

2. What are the objectives of Regional Planning Programme?

   • To facilitate the development and implementation of Local Area and Regional Development Plans;
   • To develop a system of standards for infrastructure that informs Local Area and Regional Development;
   • To develop a policy on local infrastructure provision, management, operations and access by users, and
   • To facilitate the institutional strengthening of Municipal Corporations to undertake development planning and control activities.

3. How did it come about?

   Noting that the broad objective of Vision 2020 is the achievement of a quality of life for the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago that is consistent with being a developed country, Cabinet by Minute No. 2171 of July 29, 2004 mandated the establishment of a Unit in the Ministry of Local Government to, inter alia, facilitate the development and implementation of Local Area and Regional Development Plans. Cabinet subsequently by Minute No. 2975 of November 17, 2005 mandated the above mentioned Unit be designated the “Local Area and Regional Planning and Development Unit”

4. Why is it necessary?

   At the core of the activities of the Ministry of Local Government and the Municipal Corporations is the provision and maintenance of social and physical infrastructure for which there has been a rapid growth in demand. The response to this demand on the part of the Ministry of Local Government and the Municipal Corporations, in the face of limited resources, has been inequitable and piecemeal development, skewed towards heavy urbanization. Consequently, in both urban and rural areas, the absence of adequate infrastructure or the presence of poor infrastructure has failed to deliver the desired living conditions of the citizenry in general and has tended to exacerbate the conditions of the rural poor in particular.

5. What are the Outputs of the Programme?

   The Regional/Spatial Development Plans will form the basis for:
   
   • Informing the review of the National Physical Development Plan
   • An appropriate and sustainable framework for the preparation of local area plans by the Municipal/Regional Corporations and for informing development control decisions
   • Project identification for budgetary allocation and implementation by Municipal Corporations
   • Providing a framework for review of land use policy and as a yardstick to measure implementation and feedback.

6. What are the benefits to be derived?

   Regional Planning serves to arrange the use of space to alleviate the planning woes of:
   
   • Inadequate space for residential occupation and other activities, leading to real estate values beyond the reach of many , lack of amenities, services and facilities;
   • Time and Money expended on transportation;
   • Unacceptable frequent flooding damage coupled with poor surface water quality and a high maintenance bill for de-silting waterways, and
   • The nuisance of incompatible activities in close proximity to each other.

7. How is the Programme Running? / How is it being executed?

   The Ministry of Local Government has engaged Special Purpose State Enterprises (SPSEs), under its purview, to engage consulting teams to assist Municipal Corporations in the development of their Regional/Spatial Development Plans. The consultants’ main function is to inform stakeholders’ choices, and structure the incoming information in a format understandable by all. The consultants will guide discussions to systematically move from wishes, goals and objectives to strategies and ultimately plans.

8. What is the role of the Special Purpose State Enterprises (SPSEs)?

   The SPSEs are being used as project managers and their responsibilities include:
   
   • Engagement of Consultants for the Ministry of Local Government
   • Report on the Progress of the work being conducted by the Consultants attached to the fourteen (14) Municipal Corporations .

9. Who are the experts/ professionals involved in the initiative?

   The experts/professionals include a cadre of experienced planners, engineers and project managers, among others. The consultants by Municipal Corporations are as follows;

   Consultants	Municipal Corporations
   The Interplan Consulting Group	San Fernando, San Juan /Laventille, Port-of-Spain and Diego Martin.
   Cha Plan Limited	Chaguanas
   Kairi Consultants Limited	Arima, Tunapuna/Piarco, Sangre Grande, Mayaro/Rio Claro
   All - Inclusive Project Development Services Limited (APDSL)	Point-Fortin, Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo, Siparia
   GENIVAR (T&T) Ltd.	Penal/Debe, Princes Town

   Additionally, four (4) independent consultants have been engaged to support, the process.  These include:

   Independent Consultant	Specialist Area/ Role
   Mr. Timothy Mooleedhar	Plan Review
   Mr. Tracy Wilson	Participatory Consultation
   Lichfield Planning	Urban Design
   UWI	Development Planning Process

    

10. What is the role of Local Government in the overall scheme of things in light of Local Government reform?

    It is envisioned that in light of the reform, Municipal Corporations will have a greater role for Local Area and Regional Planning and Development Control activities. The framework for execution of these responsibilities will be guided by the Consultant that was given the consultancy to develop a Local Area and Regional Development Planning Process for the Ministry of Local Government.

11. What is the role of the Municipal Corporations?

    The Municipal Corporations are expected to liaise with their respective consultant and to amply inform of the needs/ requirements of their burgesses. This information will be incorporated into the Corporation’s Regional/Spatial Plans.

12. How were the consultants identified and chosen?

    The Ministry of Local Government embarked on a comprehensive study for the identification of consultants. Requirements for the various consultancies were advertised in the daily newspapers and interested parties were invited to tender. Using criteria developed by the World Bank, consultants were evaluated and short listed. The short list of consultants was submitted to the SPSEs, who, utilizing their individual tender procedures, subsequently awarded contracts to the successful consultants.

13. What is the function/ role of the consultants?

    The consultants bring to the Ministry of Local Government their knowledge and insights to the planning process and recommended solutions to issues. Possible solutions may entail:
    
    • The identification of spaces for locating additional residential and economic activities;
    • Reducing transport demand by bringing trip origins and destinations closer together;
    • Reducing traffic through encouraging the use of space efficient transportation modes, and
    • Controlling the severity and incidence of flood damage through zoning flood risk areas appropriately and controlling flood flows through greater emphasis on temporary storage of storm runoff within appropriate spaces, and controlling development on steep slopes.

14. Is there a time frame by which the Programme will be completed?

    It is envisioned that the consultancies will be completed within one(1) year.

15. Who will be overseeing the process? /What monitoring and evaluation steps have been put in place?

    A process has been established whereby work being developed by the consultants will be firstly reviewed by Regional Planners attached to the Local Area and Regional Planning and Development Unit, then by the Independent Consultants, and finally by an Oversight Committee, chaired by the Ministry of Planning, Housing and The Environment. The Plan Preparation Oversight Committee and the Project Management Board of the MLG will also oversee and guide the process.

16. Why were there only five (5) companies engaged?

    As indicated in the answer to question number twelve (12) the Ministry of Local Government embarked on a comprehensive study, upon which only suitably qualified consultants were selected via the SPSEs.

17. Coming out of the LG consultations on the Green Paper, it was clear that burgesses already have a clear sense of what is needed or lacking in their areas, why not work with that?

    The information coming out from the consultations on the Green Paper on Roles and Responsibilities of Local Government Bodies will amply inform and be incorporated into the Regional/Spatial Development Plans. However as indicated earlier, additional requirements are needed for a Development Plan, some of which were highlighted in the answer to question thirteen(13).

18. What is the difference between Development Plans prepared at the Ministry of Planning, Housing and the Environment and those being prepared by the consultants on behalf of the Municipal Corporations?
    
    
    1. Plans being prepared at the Municipal Level have a stronger focus on Participatory Consultation through exercises such as “visioning” by key stakeholders and community consultation. This is consistent with Vision 2020 which promotes widespread participation and inclusion involving a combined “bottom-up/top- down” approach and an iterative process of recommendations and feedback with stakeholders
    2. Plans prepared at the National Level are not directly concerned with implementation. Municipal Corporations operating at the Regional and Local Levels, however, need to be concerned with implementation.
    3. Plans being prepared by the Municipal Corporations yield earlier rewards as compared to plans developed at the National Level through the identification of “hotspots” for project detailing and early implementation.

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