Sundoc

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kingston, Jamaica

16 March 2007

 

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CALL FOR PUBLIC MEETING ON BAHIA

 

            The Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association (NJCA) call for an urgent public meeting on the status of the Bahia Principe Hotel in Runaway Bay.  The environmental groups are concerned that permits have been issued or are about to be issued by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) for subsequent phases of this development without any further public consultation.

            The question of size was one of the issues raised by the environmental groups and Runaway Bay residents last year, leading to the filing of a court action against the government regulatory agencies.   “During the court case, we were told that in fact the stakeholders had been listened to, because a permit had been issued for roughly 700 rooms, instead of the over 1900 that had been requested,” said JET CEO Diana McCaulay.  “We have been writing to NEPA for several months, making Access to Information requests on the status of this development, and have now been informed that we can only get the information after the permits have been issued.”

The environmental groups claim that releasing information after permit issue is useless.

            The groups are also concerned about monitoring of the development and compliance with the existing permits.  They requested information on coral reef monitoring over a one-year period and received one report, which stated that the reefs were heavily impacted due to siltation from an unknown source.  “A coral reef monitoring programme of one or two visits over twelve months is totally inadequate,” said Wendy Lee of the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association. 

            JET has requested information on permit compliance as well, but this has not been supplied.  “Our information is that there have been several breaches at Bahia, but we have been unable to get a response on this matter from NEPA.  We are alarmed that they would consider issuing a new permit if the hotel is not in compliance with existing permits,” said Ms. McCaulay.  Residents report concerns about the source of the beach sand for Bahia, as well as odours associated with the sewage plant.  The groups understand that the hotel is operating under a provisional licence from the Jamaica Tourist Board and would like clarification as to the outstanding compliance issues in this regard.  

            Environmentalists say that NEPA’s practice of granting permits for large developments in phases is unacceptable.   “A resort project should be evaluated in its totality and not using a piecemeal approach,” said Ms. Lee.

 

Contacts:

Diana McCaulay                                            Wendy            Lee

Jamaica Environment Trust                            Northern Jamaica Conservation Association     

11 Waterloo Road                                        Runaway Bay

Kingston 10                                                     St. Ann

Phone: (c) 864-8982                                             Phone: (c) 808-1657

            (w) 960-3693                                                         (w) 973-4305