THE ENVIRONMENTAL permit for the Bahia Principe hotel under construction at Pear Tree Bottom, Runaway Bay, St. Ann, has been quashed.
This was done Tuesday amid strong criticisms by Supreme Court Judge Bryan Sykes that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) had failed in its statutory duty to consult according to law.
The effect of the ruling was that construction of the hotel would have been halted but the judge granted a 21-day stay of his order.
"We are considering the matter and may file an appeal, but we need an opportunity to consider the judgment in detail," Patrick Foster, deputy solicitor general, said after the judgment was handed down in the Supreme Court.
Justice Sykes said he found that NEPA failed to consult with the relevant government departments and agencies and also failed to circulate the marine ecology report to the public. He said it raised the possibility that members of the public made incorrect conclusions about the environmental impact of the development. He said even after the public meeting was held, NEPA got the report and did not put it in the public domain.
He said the environmental impact assessment (EIA) was deficient in a number of areas. "The EIA was really found wanting," the judge commented.
MARINE ECOLOGY REPORT
The judge granted a declaration that NEPA breached its own standards of consultation because it withheld the marine ecology report and, therefore, caused the public to deliberate on a document that was not completed.
Dennis Morrison, Q.C., and Julianne Mais Cox represented the applicants who were led by Northern Jamaica Conservation Association and Jamaica Environment Trust.
They contended that there were significant environmental and infrastructural concerns that had not been adequately addressed by the EIA, and that the public consultation process had been flawed.
Barbara Gayle
