The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) received a total of 2,430 development applications in 2025.

This information is contained in the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 2025.

The report noted that the total number of applications processed was 2,394, a decrease of 4.3 per cent from the 2,501 applications processed in 2024.

“However, the overall processing rate remained high, with a 98.5 per cent rate recorded in the year under review. Applications processed within the 90-day and 60-day timeframes also increased by 26.8 per cent to 1,818 and 35.7 per cent to 1,546 respectively, compared with 2024,” the document said.

The number of applications approved in 2025 also increased, with all five application categories recording growth over the previous year.

“Overall approvals rose by 59.5 per cent to 2,492, driven mainly by Environmental Permit applications, which accounted for 31.5 per cent of total approvals. Beach License applications, which rose five-fold, recorded the largest percentage increase,” the PIOJ said.

Meanwhile, Municipal Corporations received a total of 4,609 building/planning applications in nine of the 10 development categories. These categories are residential, commercial, mixed-use, industrial, institutional, resort, cellular tower, recreational, and other.

“The majority of applications continued to be attributed to the residential category, as 86.4 per cent (3,984) of total applications received were in this category. For the commercial category, more than half (205) of the applications were for developments greater than 300m,” the report said.

The largest number of applications was received by the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation, followed by the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation, accounting for 16.7 per cent and 13.7 per cent of the total, respectively.

The Hanover Municipal Corporation continued to receive the fewest applications, accounting for two per cent of the total.

The PIOJ noted that an overall approval rate of 76.7 per cent was recorded for the 3,536 applications received, with 80.5 per cent approved within 90 days.

“The Trelawny Municipal Corporation registered the highest rates of approval within the 90-day period at 94 per cent, followed by St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation at 92 per cent. Of the total applications received, six were refused, 34 fewer than 2024. Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation recorded three refused applications while the Clarendon, Westmoreland and Portland Municipal Corporations each had one refusal,” the document said.

The year closed with 2,112 applications still under review, of which 55.7 per cent were outside the 90-day processing timeline.