Bengal in breach of Dry Harbour mining permit
Published:Tuesday | March 30, 2021 | 12:29 PM
Jovan Johnson, Senior Staff Reporter
Bengal Development Company, the entity that was granted a permit to mine in the ecologically-sensitive Dry Harbour Mountains, is now in breach of the terms after failing to pay the required $40 million performance bond.
It throws in doubt the status of the permit that was granted by the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) to Bengal amid controversy on December 17 last year.
It also resurrects a declaration by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in the heat of raging public debate that if Bengal breached any of the conditions of the permit, he would be the first one to shut it down.
READ: PM: I’ll be first to shut it down - Holness defends Puerto Bueno decision
St Lucia-registered Bengal was due to pay the bond by March 21, after receiving an extension of the original January 17, 2021 deadline.
The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the administrator of the NRCA, said Bengal requested another extension but it was turned down.
“Bengal Development Limited/Jamaica World is therefore in breach of the permit condition,” added NEPA in response to questions submitted by The Gleaner on March 21.
The bond was to cover the cost of any significant environmental damage from the mining.
The project, which promised over 100 jobs and a total of $635 million in revenues over 20 years, has been steeped in controversy after it emerged last November that Holness accepted an appeal, overturning the NRCA’s May 2020 decision to refuse a permit because of the potentially devastating environmental effects.
As Holness heads the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation where the NRCA is based, he’s empowered by law to hear appeals against decisions of the authority and give new instructions.
Bengal, a subsidiary of the Florida-based Jamaica World LLC, wants to mine 35 million tonnes of limestone from 123 acres of a 569-acre property not zoned for quarrying and with endemic and endangered species.
READ: ‘Nothing to hide’ - Stakeholders defend economic benefits of Dry Harbour mining
The decision to allow the mining, despite protests from residents and environmentalists, was an “enlightened” one, Holness said in a November speech in St Ann, the northern parish where the property, also known as Puerto Bueno Mountains, is located.
READ: Outrage over mining reversal - Environmentalists demand reasons for Dry Harbour decision
“A strategy of protecting the environment is ensuring that people have livelihoods,” Holness said, noting that the land in question is in need of upgrades, citing the occurrence of illegal dumping.
Several residents are suing the government over the decision to permit mining, claiming breaches of their constitutional rights.
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