Lawsuit defamatory, says head of Palmyra
November 30, 2008
WESTERN BUREAU: PRESIDENT OF Palmyra Resort and Spa, Dennis Constanzo, said he is yet to receive a report from authorities, months after he asked the National Environmental Planning Agency (NEPA) to investigate sand, that may have been from suspect origin, delivered to his property.
"There is a report that exists. That report contains the test results from the samples collected legally from Palmyra under our watch and we want that report," said the hotel official, whose property is one of four defendants named in a lawsuit filed by Felicitas Jamaica Limited on November 17.
The company is trying to recover damages amounting to US$8.13 million, in addition to other losses, as a result of the removal of 6,000 cubic metres of sand from its Coral Springs Trelawny property between June and July 2008.
purchased from agent
"We did purchase sand from our agent, Bedrock Building & Aggregates (BBA), which represents approximately 300 truckloads, but when they arrived on June 7 with five truckloads for delivery and could not present the NEPA-approved documents, our construction managers stopped them," he told The Sunday Gleaner last week.
According to the Palmyra president, the truck drivers, "told us that the NEPA document was at the BB&A offices and that they would bring it with them on their next delivery".
He said several telephone calls by Palmyra's construction managers and meetings with BB&A between June 9 and June 24, 2008, demanding the NEPA document, resulted in the agents admitting that they did not have the NEPA-approved documents.
A day later, June 25, Constanzo said he made a report to Dr Larry Myers, executive director of NEPA. "I asked NEPA to help Palmyra in the investigation and give Palmyra direction as to what should be done with the sand and Dr Myers told me to speak with R. Williams of NEPA, who would schedule a site visit."...
Author: Janet Silvera
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
