The Palmyra Beach Resort and Spa's beach area, which is currently undergoing 'beach nourishment'. The area was devoid of beach sand when The Sunday Gleaner team visited on Friday. - file

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."

site visit

In his conversation with Williams, Constanzo said a site visit was scheduled for Wednesday, July 2.

NEPA has confirmed having several conversations with Constanzo relating to the incident; however, the environmental and planning agency said its investigations into illegal sand mining in St James commenced on June 23, two days before the Palmyra president made his report.

"On June 23, 2008, NEPA's enforcement officers received a report of sand being illegally mined at two beaches in St James. The report also claimed that the sand was being sold to property developers along the northwestern tourism belt.

"During the investigations, our officers visited the Palmyra property on June 25, 2008, where several loads of sand were seen dumped on the beach. Between June 25 and 28, 2008, the agency had discussions with Constanzo concerning the source of the sand found on the Palmyra property.

letter sent

"NEPA received a letter from Constanzo on July 1, 2008, raising concerns about whether the supplier, Bedrock Building and Aggregates Limited, was in possession of the relevant permits (documents) to allow them to carry out sand-mining activities.

"On July 7, 2008, NEPA wrote a letter to the deputy commandant of the Island Special Constabulary Force, ISCF, Phillip Hawthorne, outlining concerns about large-scale illegal sand-mining operations in Western Jamaica. In the letter, the agency requested that the ISCF commence immediate investigations into the matter," states NEPA.

In the meantime, Constanzo is maintaining that he called in NEPA to carry out the investigations, following up with several emails from June 25 to July 8.

"On July 8, for the fifth time, Palmyra reported the incident to NEPA and again asked for help in the investigation," he stated in a documented timeline, outlining the trajectory of the incident.

Today, Constanzo questions the value system that rewards people who report wrongdoings. "We should have been rewarded, instead, we have been sued. Our name has been sullied and defamed, causing negative consequences."

He has labelled the lawsuit as irresponsible and frivolous, "one that to us is defamatory".

stolen sand possible

Statements from the court documents received by The Sunday Gleaner state that forensic tests carried out by the Marine Geology Unit, University of the West Indies, Mona, and the Department of Geological Sciences and Geo Engineering, Queens University, Ontario, Canada, support a conclusion that samples of the sand taken from Palmyra are "likely" to have come from the Coral Springs property.

Efforts to reach Bedrock Building and Aggregates proved futile, after one week of exhaustive calls placed to the principals.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com