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The Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA)
has rescinded its decision to grant approval to HOJAPI Limited for the
development of the Phase 2 of the Bahia Principe Hotel at Pear Tree
Bottom in St. Ann. The permit was approved on March 5, 2007, but was
never issued.
The decision was taken to ensure that the
NRCA's decision-making process is in compliance with the law, as determined in
judgment delivered in the case: Northern Jamaica Conservation Association
and Jamaica Environment Trust vs. Natural Resources Conservation
Authority and National Environment and Planning Agency.
The environmental permit issued to HOJAPI in 2005
to develop Phase 1 of the Bahia Principe Hotel, subject to specific
conditions, was the subject of a judicial review in 2006. On June 23, 2006, Supreme Court Justice Bryan
Sykes, concluded, in favour of the developers who were allowed to
continue construction, following a May 16, 2006 order to quash the
environmental permit allowing its development.
The Court ordered that the development be allowed to continue but also
criticised the procedures in the decision making process.
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