APPROXIMATELY $3.4 billion in investment projects across the Corporate Area have been approved by the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) since the start of the year.

Angela Brown Burke, chair of the corporation and mayor of Kingston, said the Building and Town Planning Committee considered 309 applications since January 2014, which she said was mainly due to the use of the AMANDA system.

"We are looking forward to creating more jobs and thus doing our part in helping to build the economy," the mayor said.

She told last week's sitting of the council that the list of applications will be published in the newspaper and also posted on the council's website as well.

Information coming

"Publishing the list of both the approvals, as well as refusals, is in keeping with our improved customer service thrust of using multiple means of getting the message out and will be a regular feature for the KSAC during 2014," Brown Burke said.

The AMANDA system is intended to result in immediate time and resource savings in the development-approval process, while achieving the 90-day turnaround time for project approval to which the government has committed.

Brown Burke said it is the first time since 2009 that the system is being used as it was intended. She said the scanner, which is an important feature of the system, is now operational.

"The truth is that, as a modern local authority, we are going to have to strengthen our IT capacity to respond to the organisational needs so that our customers, the citizens and residents of Kingston and St Andrew, can be adequately served," she said.

AMANDA automatically gen-erates an acceptance letter with a unique identification number for further reference, if the applications meet all the requirements, and allow persons to track application online. The system rejects incomplete applications.