KINGSTON, Ja­maica-Ja­maica is crack­ing down on peo­ple who launch con­struc­tion projects in the cap­i­tal of Kingston with­out per­mis­sion. Kingston May­or Desmond McKen­zie says he is of­fer­ing a six-week amnesty to peo­ple who are build­ing or have built some­thing with­out the city coun­cil's ap­proval.

He says of­fi­cials will re­view those projects to de­ter­mine whether ap­proval can be grant­ed for the work al­ready done. He says at least 100 of­fi­cials will be dis­patched to­day to sur­vey all on­go­ing con­struc­tion projects. McKen­zie said that about 80 per cent of new con­struc­tions or ad­di­tions to build­ings do not have ap­proval. He said the city los­es near­ly US$7 mil­lion in build­ing fees a year as a re­sult. (AP)