Dry Harbour Construction Protest: Destroy or Create?

Workmen protest in support of Dry Harbour Construction – Labourers, truckers, and other workmen staged a protest on the Queen’s Highway, in St. Ann on Tuesday in support of the controversial multi-million dollar construction by Bengal development. The project is expected to create jobs for at least 100 people but for environmental watchdogs, the potential for an ecological disaster is not worth it.

Empty trucks, tractors, and excavators line a section of the Queen’s Highway in St. Ann with dozens of workers hoping to get a piece of the work from the construction expected to take place there, at the Dry Harbour Mountain in Discovery Bay. St. Ann.

The Office of the Prime Minister had overturned the National Environment Planning Agency’s (NEPA) decision giving  Bengal Development Limited the green light to mine and quarry in Rio Beuno, Discovery Bay. That decision was met with staunch criticism from environmental watchdogs calling for the decision to be reversed.

A petition has since been created. As of Wednesday, November 25, it received over 4600 of the 15-thousand signatures needed to get a response from the government.

But Prime Minister Andrew Holness is defending the decision. His office has since released a document outlining 72 conditions that the company must adhere to while protecting the land. He has threatened to close down the operations if they breach the environmental orders.

 Jamaila Maitland gives us the details: