Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Jamaica’s paperwork problem is back in the spotlight. A Senate debate on the 56-page Virtual Asset Service Providers (Licensing) Regulations, 2026 heard an Opposition senator point to about 15 potential drafting corrections and inconsistencies, and to the Environmental Protection Levy legislation, an incorrect version of which was withdrawn and replaced in September. In February the Prime Minister himself acknowledged that excessive bureaucracy was holding back national development.
For anyone hoping to build, the figures are starker still. The National Environment and Planning Agency received 2,430 development applications in 2025, and Planning Institute of Jamaica figures showed 2,112 applications still under review at year-end, more than half of them already past the 90-day processing benchmark. Online portals and a pilot to make citizens hand over the same information only once are in train, but paper habits die hard. How many more times can the file be kicked down the road before the road runs out?
On a hillside road in loose ink and green watercolour, a briskly striding official swings his foot at a battered tin can stuffed with forms and marked “2,112 FILES”, calling “UNDER REVIEW!” as he passes a milestone reading “90 DAYS”. A little way ahead the road simply stops at a cliff edge, while beside an empty plot and a zinc fence a young couple sit on a pile of blocks holding up a sign: “CAN WE BUILD?”
Read more: Jamaica Cannot Afford Another 50 Years of Red Tape, Warns Dean Jones
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