Assembly approves amended version of Physical Planning bill |08 August 2019

Debate on the Physical Planning bill, which is expected to replace the current Town and Country Planning Act of 1972, came to a head yesterday in the National Assembly, with the majority of MNAs voting in favour of the amended bill.

The Physical Planning bill seeks to revise and consolidate the law relating to land use planning and sustainable development, establishing the legislation which will guide the Seychelles Planning Authority.

It was presented to the National Assembly by the Minister for Habitat, Land, Infrastructure and Land Transport Pamela Charlette last week.

The National Assembly had voted on the merits and principle of the bill in its Tuesday session this week after which it went into committee stage.

The committee stage is where detailed examination of a bill takes place and, guided by the MNAs on the bills committee, amendments were made to the provisions of the bill.

Some of the provisions that were amended reduced the minister’s power afforded by the bill, awarding most of these responsibilities to the Planning Authority’s board.

Although the majority party in the National Assembly, Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS), voted for the amended document, most United Seychelles (US) representatives abstained from voting.

“These amendments radically change the complexity of this law which now makes it completely different from how it was initially anticipated. For this reason, I will not vote on this bill,” Sebastien Pillay, US MNA, explained.

The approval of the Physical Planning bill was among the members’ last order of business since the National Assembly is going into recess until September 10.