Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth – Stakeholders in the fast-growing tourism village of Treasure Beach in south-west St Elizabeth are urging “dialogue” and “compromise” following allegations by the environmental watchdog, Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), that ongoing work to build a drainage canal through the community is in breach of environmental laws.

In a release circulated to the media, Jet’s chief executive officer Diane McCaulay and legal director Danielle Andrade expressed concern that work had recommenced on the canal “although the project has never received the required permits and licences and is therefore being constructed in clear breach of both the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) Act and the Beach Control Act”.

The project, which has had a series of stops and starts since it first begun in April 2006 in response to massive flooding in the Great Bay area of Treasure Beach the previous year, is being managed by the state-run National Works Agency (NWA).

In its release JET noted that work on the canal “stalled in 2007 and 2008 and the excavated channel began to collapse”. When work restarted in 2009 “still without any legal status, JET sought and received the environmental documents relied upon by NEPA to manage the work”, the release said. It quoted McCaulay as saying the documents from NEPA “cannot be taken seriously. Of the 57 potential environmental issues posed by the canal, only three were identified by the NWA as having any environmental impact whatsoever – noise, dust and displacement of people. We cannot understand why NEPA accepted this assessment”.

Minister of transport and works Mike Henry, who has overall responsibility for the NWA and, by extension, the canal, was reportedly off the island in recent days and could not be reached for comment. But an authoritative source within the ministry said the very fact that JET could report having received “environmental documents relied upon by NEPA to manage the work” suggested the project was in line with environmental requirements.

Attempts to get a response from NEPA failed.

For Treasure Beach locals, one primary concern was that with the rainy season in full swing and the hurricane season to begin next month, the canal, which has already consumed in excess of $30 million, is “very far” from completion. They are also bothered by what they suspect could be “design faults”.

Environmentalists and tourism interests fear that the canal could drain the Great Pond and its satellites, which are of priceless ecological value, and that a concentrated stream of debris into the sea could damage the beach and marine life.

Residents fear – among other things – that there could be a “back flow” into the canal should there be a storm surge. This, they suggest, could lead to an overflow of the ponds and flooding of an even greater scale than in 2005.

Back then, scores of people had to abandon their homes for several weeks after the Great Pond and its satellites overflowed and flooded the community in the aftermath of rains from Hurricane Wilma, which passed south of Jamaica.

Against that backdrop, a predominant view in Treasure Beach appears to be that while there may well be serious environmental concerns, the 1,000-metre canal must be completed as speedily as possible but with due regard to safety and the environment.

“I don’t think it should really stop now,” argued Hursley Moxam, who said he is yet to be paid for land he sold to the state to facilitate the canal two years ago, “but I am not sure about the engineering part of it”. It’s an aspect that he hopes the authorities will seek to better explain to locals.

Hoteliers Jason Henzell and Corey South also want speedy completion with appropriate “design safeguards” and dialogue.

“I think it has gone too far to stop but we all need to sit down and talk, share all the relevant information and make sure we make the best of the situation,” said Henzell. “It’s not a matter of black and white, all sides need to arrive at a compromise that all of us can live with.”

He argued that while the implications for Treasure Beach were grave should there be serious damage to the environment, priority must also be given to the needs of residents who live in fear of flooding.