Minister McKenzie Satisfied With Pace of Royalton Investigation

Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, has expressed satisfaction with the pace of the investigation into the collapse of a section of a building at the Royalton Negril Hotel construction site in Hanover.

The Minister ordered the probe into the incident, which occurred early Tuesday morning (May 10), injuring five workers.  A 30-day Stop Order has been placed on the project.

Speaking to JIS News following a tour of the property on Friday (May 13), Minister McKenzie said the technical team is receiving the full cooperation of the hotel management and contractors.

The three-member team conducting the investigation comprise Chief Technical Officer in the Local Government Ministry, Dwight Wilson; City Engineer, Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), Norman Shand; and Chief Executive Officer, National Works Agency (NWA), EG Hunter. The team has seven days in which to investigate and produce a report to the Minister.

Mr. McKenzie said that while he has received an interim report on the incident, he will await the final assessment from the technical team before making any public pronouncements.

“I would be fair to wait until the assessment has been done in totality and then we speak as to what is the way forward. I am comfortable with the support that the technical staff has been getting and I am hoping that in short order we will be in a position to say something definitive on this matter,” he told JIS News.

During the tour, the technical team inspected the collapsed section of the hotel and conducted an integrity test of areas already constructed.

Mr. Shand, who tested the strength of the concrete columns, told JIS News that the results were satisfactory.

He said the Schmidt Hammer used in the testing gave a reading of 3, 402 per square inch (PSI), which is well above the industry standard of 3, 000 PSI.

Minister McKenzie is meeting with contractors and top executives of Royalton today (May 14), and representatives of the Hanover Parish Council.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness has directed that the investigations be extended into all major hotel projects across the island to determine whether they are in keeping with the approved regulatory standards.