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Ruling against hotel will undermine investor confidence, says chamber
Observer Reporter
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
THE Jamaica Chamber of Commerce yesterday expressed alarm at last Wednesday's Supreme Court decision to quash the environmental licence permitting the construction of the Spanish-based Piñero Group's hotel at Pear Tree Bottom in St Ann, insisting it was sure to undermine investor confidence.
At the same time, the chamber expressed sympathy for the hotel group now faced with the possibility of having its 1,918-room Bahia Principe Clubs and Resorts project stopped, having pumped millions of dollars into it.
"The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce is alarmed and concerned that a judge has found it necessary to set aside a licence that was granted by the National Resource Conservation Authority on the advice of the National Environment and Planning Agency, for the building of a hotel by investors," chamber president Noel DaCosta said in a release to the media yesterday.
"We sympathise with the Piñero Group, which, having already spent in excess of US$50 million, in good faith, now faces the prospect of having its Bahia Principé project halted at this late stage, through no fault of its own."
Justice Bryan Sykes ruled last week that the licence be set aside, noting that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Natural Resource Conservation Authority (NRCA) had failed to adequately consult with the area residents and stakeholders in Pear Tree Bottom before they had awarded the licence.
The judge indicated that this was evidenced by the absence of a marine ecology report, which explored the benefit of flora, fauna ad geographical features of the area, in the environment impact assessment (EIA) that was publicised before the construction of the hotel began. The public, Sykes said, was thus left to evaluate the development project on the basis of insufficient information.
The judge, who has stayed his verdict for 21 days to give the attorneys representing the company time to review the written judgment, also noted that his personal reading of the EIA had left him feeling it was an unreliable document. Beyond that, he said that the EIA showed little that its creators could speak with authority on the site's marine life, water quality, coral reefs and oceanography.
The chamber has, meanwhile, insisted that investments will only flourish in an environment "characterised by predictability". The result, DaCosta said, is that the recent development in the Pear Tree Bottom issue could "cause the economy to lose existing, proposed and future investment that the country so desperately needs."
At the same time, the chamber has called on government to carry out a "through review" of the island's development process in an effort to ensure restored investor confidence.
Ruling against hotel will undermine investor confidence, says chamber
Observer Reporter
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
THE Jamaica Chamber of Commerce yesterday expressed alarm at last Wednesday's Supreme Court decision to quash the environmental licence permitting the construction of the Spanish-based Piñero Group's hotel at Pear Tree Bottom in St Ann, insisting it was sure to undermine investor confidence.
At the same time, the chamber expressed sympathy for the hotel group now faced with the possibility of having its 1,918-room Bahia Principe Clubs and Resorts project stopped, having pumped millions of dollars into it.
"The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce is alarmed and concerned that a judge has found it necessary to set aside a licence that was granted by the National Resource Conservation Authority on the advice of the National Environment and Planning Agency, for the building of a hotel by investors," chamber president Noel DaCosta said in a release to the media yesterday.
"We sympathise with the Piñero Group, which, having already spent in excess of US$50 million, in good faith, now faces the prospect of having its Bahia Principé project halted at this late stage, through no fault of its own."
Justice Bryan Sykes ruled last week that the licence be set aside, noting that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Natural Resource Conservation Authority (NRCA) had failed to adequately consult with the area residents and stakeholders in Pear Tree Bottom before they had awarded the licence.
The judge indicated that this was evidenced by the absence of a marine ecology report, which explored the benefit of flora, fauna ad geographical features of the area, in the environment impact assessment (EIA) that was publicised before the construction of the hotel began. The public, Sykes said, was thus left to evaluate the development project on the basis of insufficient information.
The judge, who has stayed his verdict for 21 days to give the attorneys representing the company time to review the written judgment, also noted that his personal reading of the EIA had left him feeling it was an unreliable document. Beyond that, he said that the EIA showed little that its creators could speak with authority on the site's marine life, water quality, coral reefs and oceanography.
The chamber has, meanwhile, insisted that investments will only flourish in an environment "characterised by predictability". The result, DaCosta said, is that the recent development in the Pear Tree Bottom issue could "cause the economy to lose existing, proposed and future investment that the country so desperately needs."
At the same time, the chamber has called on government to carry out a "through review" of the island's development process in an effort to ensure restored investor confidence.
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