Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Peart

The Sunday Gleaner has learnt that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is seeking to take sanctions against the controversial Bahía Príncipe Hotel for breaches of its construction permit.

Informed sources told The Sunday Gleaner last week that the environmental agency was seeking to have sanctions brought against the the hotel for constructing more rooms than was permitted, and also for what is believed to be an illegal importation of sand to create an artificial beach on the property. This is despite regulations that stipulate that earth material must be ascertained from officially licensed and approved quarries. A copy of the license must also be presented for inspection. The source informed The Sunday Gleaner, however, that NEPA has been unable to get a copy of the licence.

The source also noted that while NEPA was seeking to take sanctions against the hotel, it was facing some opposition from highly placed persons in the Ministry of Local Government and Environment.

Minister of Local Government and Environment, Dean Peart, confirmed that a letter had indeed been written to solicitor general Michael Hylton by NEPA seeking advice on the sanctions that could be taken against the hotel for allegedly advertising more rooms than they had been permitted to build. Bahía Príncipe hotel has been advertising 757 suites on its website when it was only permitted to build 658.

"They have written to the Solicitor General for legal opinion but that advice has not come yet. The advice has to go the board and the board then makes a decision as to where we are," Minister Peart told The Sunday Gleaner.

"We are dealing with the issues one by one," he added.

Meanwhile, the environmental agency seems to be having other problems with plans for phase two of the hotel development. Mayor of St. Ann, Delroy Giscombe, noted that there was also a concern about the number of rooms planned for phase two. NEPA has not yet issued a permit for that phase.

The hotel has been faced with a number of incidents that started during its construction, including a lawsuit by environmentalists, which temporarily halted construction of the hotel early last year.

It could also be the second hotel to face sanctions by NEPA, following a stop order placed on the Fiesta Hotel in Point, Hanover, on Thursday, after that hotel breached nine conditions of its building permit. Among the breaches cited were:

A failure to provide a structural engineering report to certify the structural integrity of the buildings at the facility;

Failure to provide a commissioned land surveyor's report;

Inadequate supply of potable water;

Insufficient toilets;

No provision of areas for vending food; Failure to cover material to prevent generation of dust during transportation;

Failure to wet stockpiles of marl and soil to prevent generation of fugitive dust;

Failure to provide a fully equipped office to house a full-time parish council building officer at the site.