MAMMEE BAY, St Ann – The contractors on the US$45-million Riu 3 hotel in Mammee Bay, St Ann will meet with Minister of Land and Environment Dean Peart today to discuss the stop order that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) placed on the project last Friday.

“I gave them two options, one option was to stop now and to come in to see me on Tuesday afternoon at three o’clock to sort out the matter, or it goes through the courts,” Minister Peart told the Observer last Friday.

The contractors, he said, had failed to follow the rules, then ignored a stop order issued by NEPA.

“Last week NEPA’S CEO realised that RIU had started its sewer system without permission, without even submitting an application to NEPA,” said Minister Peart. “This week, we realised that they did not stop; they were still working on the facility, in clear breach.”

The minister, the NEPA head, and the director of planning visited the site last Thursday and after confirming that the stop order placed on the sewer system had been ignored, the entire hotel project was ordered closed down.

This is the second time NEPA has issued a stop order on the project. The first one came in the second week of June after the environmental state agency accused contractors of working at the site before being given the go-ahead by the St Ann Parish Council.

St Anns Bay mayor Delroy Giscombe had accused Riu of cutting down trees as well as starting steel and construction work on the site though the council had given permission only for the site to be cleared.

Riu denied that the work done was outside the scope of the permission granted by the local authority.

The council threatened legal action, but less than a week later said it would move to fast-track Riu’s building application, promising to shave 30 days off the usual 90 days it would take to grant approval.

Since work began at the St Ann site, Riu has earned the ire of not only state agencies but also locals who have accused the Spanish chain of starting work without the necessary consultation with community members.

The US$45-million project is part of a multi-million-dollar Spanish investment in Jamaica’s tourism sector which, started about a year ago, is expected to provide about 5,000 hotel rooms over the next few years.

Since its entry into the local market with a 392-room Negril property, Riu has branched out to include a second 450-room resort in Bloody Bay, Westmoreland, and is now working in St Ann, next door to Sandals Dunn’s River.