An Urban and a Rural Area Plan for the whole of Tonga is currently being drafted by a three-member team from Global Works International Project Development.

Richard Mabbitt, the team leader, said that there are two stages to the Tonga Integrated Urban Development Project. "The first stage is the strategic view, looking at what are the key issues and what the strategy should be, and we are actually drawing up a planning process and how the planning process should work

"There will be a broad framework for development, for the whole of Tonga, identifying priorities for urban improvement, which will be looked at in detail in the Second Phase."

He said that the focus of their work would be in the urban areas, of Nuku'alofa, Neiafu and Pangai. "A proper planning framework will take into accounts all the various sectors, water supply, drainage, and sanitation, everything that should be taken into account to manage the growth of the urban areas.

"You can't look at the urban areas in isolation you have to look at the rural area around it, they all inter-act. So at the end of the first phase, we have identify the key problem areas to be look at in details in the Second Phase."

First urban plan

The Group started working on the Tonga Integrated Urban Development Project six weeks ago and it is the first time Tonga has seriously look at an Urban Planning and Management Strategy.

Richard said there was a serious attempt in 1994 when a Town Planning Act was drafted, but it was rejected by Cabinet. The plan included zoning, and there was a reaction against it because people felt that government was trying to tell them what to do with their lands. "Since then everything is at ad hoc, nobody is making any plans for any part of Tonga, no comprehensive plan. There is no real control. The Ministry of Lands is trying to monitor and control it but they have no plan."

Richard said that with the plan that they are working on they will avoid getting into detail zoning. "We want to be more flexible, it is going to be a loose framework. Trying to guide development into the right places, using the right location with the right decisions.

"The other important thing is that we want to design a system that works for Tonga, something that works in the urban and the rural areas, reflecting Tongan custom and culture, and Tongans' attitude to land, and that is very important to understand."

The project is supported by the Asian Development Bank and the other two members of the team are Kellie May, Community Development Specialist, and Monalisa Tukuafu, Local Community Coordinator.