ARN considers posting compensation claims on its website

In keeping with its desire for continued transparency, the National Roads Authority (“NRA”) is considering posting active and live compensation claims on its website.

As to the amount of information that can be shared, the outgoing chairman of the NRA board said that the legal advice provided by the government’s legal adviser to the NRA obliges the NRA to comply with the Privacy Act. Datas.

The outgoing President added:

The lawyers explained that since the claims relate to personal data, this data must be treated fairly and in accordance with data protection law. This processing must also be carried out in the exercise of the NRA’s functions as a public authority. Such a function of a public nature must also be exercised in the public interest, based on what the lawyers have said.

“Subject to what attorneys may say, the NRA Board would also expect a privacy notice to be given to land title holders so they are aware of how data may be processed and let them know that they can instruct ANR at any time to cease processing any data,” he continued.

In addition, the outgoing President advised that following the legal opinion with which the NRA must comply, any compensation listing, if published on the NRA website, should be updated regularly and any claims that are no longer “active” would be deleted. of the website.

If this is what the public wants in terms of full transparency and if affected landowners agree, then affected stakeholders will no longer have to speculate as to why a public road project might suffer delays. , for example, due to an ongoing claim against a parcel of land near a project.

The outgoing president added.

The NRA Board is also proposing recommendations for changes to be considered by the Minister for Infrastructure, the Hon. Jay Ebanks, and Parliament, on the Roads Act. These include suggestions for a faster claims resolution process and the way assessments are made, i.e. assessments are not based solely on the date a statement is made to the respect of a property in a gazette.

The outgoing president concluded.