Nearly eight years after developers, Treasures Limited, first sought environmental approval to develop 109 acres of land at Gunboat beach on Kingston's Palisadoes strip, the company is once again seeking permission to go ahead with plans that would ultimately lead to the construction of a 350-room hotel and a cruise ship pier.

The proposal is now with the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) at Terms of Reference (TOR) stage, which calls for an environment impact assessment (EIA) to be done.

The Seventh Harbour Development, as the project is now called, was first submitted to NEPA in mid-1999 as a plan to build Gunboat Hotel and Marina.

New assessment

An EIA was completed for the original project, but a new one would have been done under NEPA rules, which limit the shelf life of an environmental impact assessment to under three years. One done seven years ago would now be obsolete.

Based on the idea now before NEPA, the proposed development would be done in two phases; the first of which would include a 5,000-person entertainment centre, a 40-slip marina and a restaurant.

The second phase, which would start more than three years after the first phase, would include the expansion of the entertainment centre to accommodate 20,000 persons and the marina built out to 200 slips.

The cruise ship pier and the hotel would also be built during this phase.

camilo.thame@glenaerjm.com