Environment not Compromised for Development Projects – Dr. Robertson

Minister of Development, Dr. Paul Robertson, has expressed support for the government’s environmental record and practices, as it relates to the granting of permits for developmental projects.
Speaking against the background of the development the US$150 million 2,000 room development in the Point area of Lucea, Hanover by the Fiesta Hotel group, Minister Robertson said critics were being grossly unfair to potential investors as it relates to environmental matters.
“Some of the investments which are coming are under attack by people about environmental matters, and I want to say that we are being grossly unfair to our investors. When these proposals come, the most meticulous attention is given to the environmental concerns,” he stated.
He was addressing an investment workshop held for the parish of Hanover, at the Grand Lido Hotel on October 14. The Hanover workshop is the fourth in a series of parish investment workshops being held across the island by the Cabinet Office in collaboration with Pricewaterhouse Coopers.
“I can tell you that every one of our hotel projects has gone through the most meticulous consideration, Environmental Impact Study, and all sorts of processes, before one license is granted,” he emphasized.
He pointed out that studies were already taking place in Hanover to satisfy national and international environmental standards in relation to the Fiesta Hotel project.
Dr. Robertson noted that the Government could always defend its environmental practices as they related to the approval of new development projects.
“I would like the word to go out to the people who are misrepresenting, there is no other word for it, misrepresenting the process, to know that poverty is a greater danger to the environment than these well planned projects which are going forward,” he stated.
The Development Minister noted that the only way to address the social and other problems of the country was to allow the economy to grow through well planned and approved projects.