15
The GEF Full Size Project – “Building a Sustainable National Network of Marine Protected Areas” is being
implemented by BEST, DMR, TNC and BNT. The project life is four years and funding is provided by GEF.
12. Land Use Project
“In 2010, a new Planning and Subdivision Act 2010 was enacted by Parliament, which consolidated all
aspects of town planning and subdivisions; including regulations for a revised and restructured
Department of Physical Planning and Town Planning Committee, a new Appeals process and public
participation. A key component of this new law is provisions for land use plans to be prepared for every
Family Islands. The Act sets out what shall comprise a land use plan, which must be consistent with the
National Land Use Development Policies (First Order, 2010).”
To assist in creating the land use plan, first order existing land use maps were created from the
compilation of all existing land use and land resources datasets and information in the country, that was
collected from relevant governmental agencies. For large tracts of land privately owned, the owners
were consulted to ascertain their plans for developing their landholdings. Designations such as
Agriculture, Forest, Green Spaces, Conservation Forest, National Parks, Restricted
Development/mangroves, Heritage Site, Industrial, Residential and Commercial were assigned to the
zoning maps. See Figure 3.2 for the zoning areas assigned for New Providence. One of the major
outputs of the project is the creation of land use and zoning maps, which would be accessible online to
accompany the Land Use Plan. Maps will be created for all of The Family Islands.
13. The Bahamas Land Use, Policy and Administration Project (LUPAP)
The LUPAP project began in 2005 and ended in October 2009. The project’s goals were to improve the
efficiency of land administration and land information management in The Bahamas, prepare modern
land legislation and policy guidelines for the GOB, and thereby contribute to the improved use of land
resources in The Bahamas. The four main components of the project were: 1) land administration
modernization (LS); 2).land information management (and the re-activation of the BNGIS Centre); 3).
the development of national land issues and policy guidelines (LS); and 4) a PCU management – crown
land policy study, crown surveys & GPS (LS). The project was implemented by the Department of Land
Surveys (LS) and the BNGIS Centre (Component 2 Land Information Management only).
An “Initial Global satellite” system was established, as part of a new geodetic infrastructure, for all types
of surveys across the 5 major islands, as well as the development of a new datum (WGS 84 ITRF05
replacing the old North American datum of 1927) was created under LUPAP Component 2. A National
GIS Strategy was conceptualized in consultation with the Geospatial Advisory Committee which
promotes the vision for a comprehensive Bahamas Spatial Data Infrastructure (BSDI), along with draft
legislation for the BSDI with BNGIS as the lead agency.
Under LUPAP Components 1 and 3 executed by the Lands & Surveys Department land use issues and
policy guidelines have been created, but are underutilized in the planning process. Additionally access
to the Parcel Information Management System (PIMS) for New Providence and Grand Bahama which
contains information on crown lands, private lands and land use data is somewhat restricted. Although