TREASURE BEACH, St Elizabeth — Controversy is brewing over a planned sports complex, which is to be built in this sleepy rural town. The project is the brainchild of Jason Henzell and Darin James, the leading players behind the Treasure Beach Foundation.

According to its proponents, the sports park and community centre — which will be located below Sandy Bank — is to be used as a training facility for the community. They were unable to provide a price tag but said the complex would also be used by foreign students, who would be in the community for periods of not more than a month at a time, as well as corporate teams.

The 14-acre site on which the complex will be located, which has since been acquired by the ministry of water and housing, will house a cricket ground, football field, tennis, basketball and netball courts and will be loosely based on Barbados’ sports tourism profile.

It is also hoped that the complex will be able to host national and professional sporting matches throughout the year.

But some residents are opposed to the project.

A letter published in this Monday’s edition of the Observer, under the name of St Elizabeth resident Samuel Phillips, was harshly critical of the project which, Phillips maintained, was shrouded in mystery.

Numerous attempts to get information from the responsible individuals, Phillips said, have been met with a stony silence.

His letter was just the latest salvo from a number of community members who are opposed to the project on the grounds that it would help transform Treasure Beach into “another Negril”. There have been several negative comments posted on the community’s website. The sports complex, some maintain, would:

* exclude locals,

* lead to traffic, noise and garbage problems,

* become the venue for large concerts that would destroy the peaceful quiet which now prevails; * as well as introduce other undesirable elements into their now largely unspoilt community.

Phillips, along with others who object to the building of the complex have been highly critical of what they have described as a general lack of information on the project, its co-ordinators and its general purpose.

But yesterday, Donald Buchanan, the water and housing minister, expressed surprise at the negative response to the project.

“I find it amazing that this person is complaining about something at the absolutely preliminary stage,” he told the Observer, in reference to Monday’s published letter. “A project like this will naturally involve discussions at the community level.”

There have already been calls, from those who have expressed concern about the facility, for a community meeting to explain the sports complex’s aims and proposals.

Meanwhile, both Henzell and James have dismissed the negative comments about the proposed facility — scheduled for a 2005 construction date — as misinformed and mischievous.

“I refuse to be drawn into a cass cass that has been fuelled by rumours,” Henzell told the Observer, as he explained what others have described as his silence on the issue.

“Although I know that those posting complaints on the treasure beach.net forum are mainly foreigners and a few Jamaicans living abroad and thus not representing the citizens here, I am still disappointed, considering my track record in community development,” Henzell added.

He maintained that he was in dialogue with his neighbours, daily.

Henzell also denied the allegation that the complex would double as an entertainment centre for his sister Justine’s music shows, adding that he would do nothing to detract from the character of the quiet rural community, which has become world-famous for its tranquility.

According to Henzell’s partner, James, the sports complex ‘would be a perfect training centre for the talented youth in St Elizabeth’. The land, he explained, is owned by the water and housing ministry, while the Treasure Beach Foundation will manage the project.

Addressing some of the concerns raised by those opposed to the project, James stressed that:

* a proper sewerage system would be installed;

* the facility would be mainly for local use even though it would occasionally be used to accommodate groups of about 20 foreigners who would be accommodated by hotels and guest houses in the area.