Over the last few months, activities under the Town and Country Planning Division’s (TCPD) Digitization Project have been moving along at pace. On Monday 4th November 2019, the Digitization Team met a major milestone, as they completed the largescale conversion of the Division’s North Regional Office paper records from the year 2000 to 2017.
The rigorous digitization activities at the NRO saw the scanning, preparation and subsequent delivery of over 40,000 application files, and approximately 1,200 layouts and 750 plotting sheets to consultants, I-Lan Outsource Services Limited.
This ease of access presents several benefits:
- The availability of a comprehensive, readily accessible database to assist in accurate decision making.
- Increased efficiency of development control processes due to the elimination of unnecessary and time-consuming vault searches.
- Elimination of illnesses caused by dust, mould and mildew found on old files.
Since September 2019, all technical staff of the North Office have benefitted from the use of the digital library, the result of the digitization exercise. Staff can now access thousands of material and legacy information without ever having to leave their desk. Commencement of consultancy services with the successful bidder, I-LAN Outsource Services Limited,
for Phase I of the Digitization project took place on June 3rd 2019. The priority areas of the North and South offices in Phase I are aligned with the primary focal areas of the Automated Construction Permitting System (ACPS) project, which will be rolled out to the Port of Spain and San Fernando regions in its initial phases.
The TCPD possesses almost fifty (50) years of information on the spatial development and growth of Trinidad and Tobago and it is imperative that a high premium is placed on the maintenance and management of this critical data. Phase 1 of the Digitization project will continue in earnest with the commencement of preparatory activities at TCPD’s South Regional on November 11 2019.
