PRESS RELEASE - March 1, 2004

New application fees recently approved under the Natural Resources Conservation Permits and Licences Regulations are now in effect. As of today (March 1), the new application fee for permit and licence is Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000). In addition, the new fee for the discharge of trade and sewage effluent is Seven Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($7,500). A licence becomes renewable every five years and licencees must apply for renewal before the expiry date. Late application for renewal of licences attracts a fee of Six Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($6,500).

The Permit and Licence Regulations came into effect in 1996 when some twenty-four (24) prescribed categories were introduced. In January 2004, sixteen new categories were added to the prescribed list. The new categories include:

Golf courses, theme parks; ship yards, marinas and boat yards; sewage and industrial waste-water treatment facilities; transportation centres for more than ten vehicles; construction or demolition of reservoirs, dams, dykes and aqueducts; railways, tramways and cable cars operations; irrigation and waste management and improvement projects; causeways and multiple span bridges; hospitals; shopping centres ; aquaculture facilities and ponds and intensive fish farming; storage of scrap metal including derelict vehicles; offshore drilling for extraction of oil, natural gas or minerals; and dry cleaning operations.

Most of the new categories attract a processing fee of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000). Processing fees for some of the original categories remain at Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000) while others have seen increases varying between Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000) and Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000).

Under the Regulations, a permit is required to undertake any new construction or development of a prescribed nature anywhere in the island or the territorial sea of Jamaica. A licence is required for the handling of sewage on trade effluent and poisonous or harmful substances to be discharged into the environment.