Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer
Horace Peterkin, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
WESTERN BUREAU:
PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Associa-tion (JHTA) Horace Peterkin, has criticised the state-run environmental agencies for their role in the predicament surrounding the Bahia Principe hotel construction in Runaway Bay.
Mr Peterkin made his comments during the 45th Annual General Meeting of the JHTA at the Half Moon Conference Centre in Montego Bay.
"It is a crying shame that the Pinero Group is in the debacle that it is in now, because the environment agencies that are responsible for carrying out due diligence in ensuring that all conditions are met in granting an environment permit, failed in their duty," Mr Peterkin said.
WIN-WIN RESULT
"That is simply not good enough and I expect that after the case is resolved - with a win-win result for the developers and the environment - that future development will be preceded by the total and complete due diligence required," he added.
The court had ruled that the two state environmental agencies the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Natural Resources Conservation Authority had acted improperly in granting the environmental permit for the construction of the Spanish Pinero Group-owned hotel, in the biodiversity hotspot Pear Tree Bottom, in Runaway Bay. The court found that the required state agencies' environmental investigation of the site had been substandard.
SUMMIT
Mr Peterkin said also the levels of environmental degradation across the island has prompted the JHTA to plan an environmental summit for late August in an effort to protect what was left of the island's natural resources.
"I have been chastised for highlighting the Government's negligence in the matter of
protecting the environment. My intention has never been to criticise the Government just to give them a hard time. I just want what is best for my country," he said.
"When I drive around my beloved land and see once beautiful environmental treasures like Fern Gully and Bamboo Avenue disappearing, and the once gorgeous continuous seven-mile beach in Negril cut up into segments, and when I see the watershed above Dunn's River Falls being denuded and degraded, I would be irresponsible if I did not cry out for my little island that cannot speak for itself," Mr. Peterkin said.
