Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
SANDRA MINOTT-PHILLIPS
THE SPANISH owners of the Bahia Principe Hotel under construction at Pear Tree Bottom, Runaway Bay, St. Ann, are contending that Cricket World Cup will be severely affected, if the order quashing the environmental permit is not set aside.
This was one of the reasons put forward yesterday in the Supreme Court by attorney-at-law Sandra Minott-Phillips, who is representing the owners.
The hearing continues today in the Supreme Court before Mr. Justice Bryan Sykes who on May 16 quashed the permit.
Efforts last week to settle the dispute out of court were unsuccessful.
Mrs. Minott-Phillips told Mr. Justice Sykes that the hotel could not start from scratch because too much money had already been invested. She said US$62 million (J$4 billion) had so far been spent on the building and 2,500 Jamaicans were employed to the project.
She said the blocking of the construction would have serious repercussions for the Jamaican economy and future investors would be wary because of the ruling. In response to that statement, the judge said the court could not be worried about that because the law must be obeyed.
The hotel is seeking to have the judge's order of May 16 set aside or varied because, when the suit was filed, they were not notified or served with the claim form so they could be a party to the proceedings.
Dennis Morrison, Q.C., who represents the environmentalist group, argued that although the hotel owners were not served, the owners were well aware of the proceedings. He said copies of the documents were sent to their lawyers. Mr. Morrison said the hotel owners took the calculated risk not to take part in the proceedings.
Mr. Justice Sykes had issued an order quashing the environmental permit to the hotel. The order halted the construction of the hotel, but the judge then granted a stay of execution which expires on June 27.
The judge found that the Natural Resources Conservation Authority and its successor, the National Environment and Planning Agency, had failed in their statutory duty to consult according to law.
Several applicants, led by Northern Jamaica Conservation Association and the Jamaica Environment Trust, had brought the claim seeking to have the permit quashed because of alleged environmental breaches.
