PLANNING AUTHORITY HITS THE GROUND RUNNING

PLANNING AUTHORITY HITS THE GROUND RUNNING

No sooner had the kick off meeting been organised the Planning Authority started with its consultations with key stakeholders from across the Government, NGO, district Authorities and Private sectors in Seychelles on the preparation of the Strategic Plan.  This is of course an essential element of the project being implemented with the support of a London based international consulting firm, ARUP, recruited for that purpose.  

   

The aim of thePlan is to build on existing aspirations and set a vision for the future of theSeychelles up to the year 2040. The Strategy will deliver sustainable and integrated solutions for the economy; the community; and the environment and address a number of critical issues such as establishing opportunities for growth and sustainable locations where development will occur across Seychelles. 

Once completed,it will include a framework for the island of Mahé and a Masterplan for its capital city, Victoria.

The first of a series of workshops was organized on Wednesday 2nd July 2014from 0930 hrs to 1500 hrs at the STC Conference room on Latanier Road.  This first workshop targeted the district authorities, thus all the National Assembly members and the District Administrators.  

 

Others were to follow later including the Non Governmental sector. Meeting also took place ona one to one basis with a view to understand and collect all stakeholder views;
aspirations and collect existing data.

The game plan was simple; provide an ideal opportunity for the planning authority to introduce the plan and address issues that the stakeholders individually feel should be the focus of the plan.

Participants were split into groups with each group participating in discussions on the vision for the future of Seychelles up to 2040; the challenges and opportunities facing the Seychelles and their specific local areas.

The Planning Authority and its partners have expressed their utter satisfaction with the meetings, all described as being successful.  They have described the participants as being filled with great enthusiasm with a very responsive and informative attitude.

 
 

The next step of the process will be the organizing of larger scale workshops, generally referred to as “Charettes” at critical stages of the project and the first is scheduled to take place during the month of September over two to three days and will generally involve numerous stakeholders. They will provide a forum topresent work to date, emerging findings and test assumptions and options in orderfor stakeholders to really inform the next phase of the project.