Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner WriterSTUNNED BY the recent court ruling in the case involving the development of the Bahía Príncipe Hotel, the Government is worried that the country's status as a viable investment location may have been damaged.
This sentiment was confirmed by Colin Campbell, the Minister of Development, in an interview with The Sunday Gleaner.
"The issue in the investing community has definitely been one of very serious concern because not only are investors at risk but also the people who finance such projects - the banks," he said.
The Supreme Court, on May 16, quashed the environmental permit for the construction of the Bahía Príncipe Hotel at Peer Tree Bottom, an ecologically-sensitive location, in Runaway Bay, St. Ann.
Justice Bryan Sykes, who delivered the judgement, described as flawed, the consultation process leading to the presentation of the requisite environment impact assessment (EIA) by the National Environmental and Planning Agency (NEPA). He backed up this assertion by declaring that a crucial component of the EIA - the marine ecology report - was not presented to the public.
FAILURE TO ACT
The judge concluded that the Natural Resources and Conservation Authority (NRCA), an agency of NEPA "failed to act in accordance with its mandate given in the NRCA Act," and that the decision to grant the permit was therefore, not reasonable.
Justice Sykes initially granted a 21-day stay of execution of his order and subsequently granted a further 21-day stay on Friday, while lawyers for the environmental groups which brought the action (Northern Jamaica Conservation Association and Jamaica Environment Trust) and the Government agencies involved, continue to discuss their differences.
In the meantime, however, Senator Campbell remains worried about the implications for other investment prospects.
"These are projects with the requisite approvals and projects for which they are down the line on, such as, in this case, a multimillion-U.S.-dollar project. And, therefore, if it is that financial institutions could finance a project which has all the documents in place and then are left stranded down the wicket, then you could see that that would be a source of concern to them."
REQUIREMENT
This argument sits well with the points made by the Ambassador of Spain to Jamaica, Jesús Silva, while addressing the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) on Thursday. He insisted that the Spanish developer - the Piñero Group - had met all the requirements of the Jamaican Government for the project and had taken significant steps to incorporate the sensitive environmental features in the 1,918-room hotel.
Furthermore, he argued, upscale and environment-friendly projects "will go a long way towards ensuring environmental preservation."
Beverly Lopez, president of the PSOJ, mindful of the possible consequences for the country's standing as an investment location, is calling for "a complete statement from NEPA and the other agencies involved as to whether they were faulty in the process of granting the Piñero Group their licence."
She warned, however, that if the Government did follow all the rules and regulations "then it (the court's decision) would be a blow to the foreign investment climate because a ruling like this will send a signal to the whole investment community."
If, on the other hand, the Government has erred in the matter, the PSOJ head is calling for the administration to act in a clear and decisive manner "in order to avoid a repeat because it can have a snowballing effect on investment decisions."
"We need to have very clear, precise and transparent rules so that anybody coming to investment knows what the requirements are," she said.
