Devon Evans, Gleaner Writer
OCHO RIOS, St. Ann
THE ST. ANN Parish Council is seeking an emergency meeting with the management of the Bahia Principe hotel project which was the site of an accident that left at least three persons nursing injuries on Tuesday.
Arthur Hosang, superintendent of Roads and Works at the council, said the accident could have been the result of poor workmanship. He added that, based on his observations, he has written to the secretary manager of the council, Dorothy Delgado, to arrange the emergency meeting with the site engineer and the management of the hotel as early as possible. The proposed meeting is aimed at preventing a repeat of the incident.
COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED
Mr. Hosang, who carried out an inspection at the site shortly after a section of the construction collapsed under the weight of a cement mixture, said the incident could have been prevented.
"The fact is that the engineer should ensure that even before the concrete is cast, the supporting structures are safe," he told The Gleaner yesterday. "I think that if it was being properly monitored then may be we would not have had this problem."
Describing the accident as regrettable, Mr. Hosang said that as a condition of approving the project, it is the responsibility of both the council and the developer to ensure the building is constructed as approved.
He said the council had assigned one of its building officers to the project to monitor the construction and is awaiting his report.
When contacted yesterday, a spokesman for the Piñero Group, the developers of the hotel, said the company does not wish to make any statement on the incident.
The spokesman, who wishes to remain unidentified, said the Piñero Group wants to remain independent of the investigation currently taking place into the cause of the accident and so has given the police, fire personnel and disaster preparedness officials free access to carry out their work.
