‘NO LAWS BROKEN’

No environmental laws are being broken in the construction of the new Sandals Royal resort.

This assurance came from Sandals Eastern Caribbean Public Relations Director, Sunil Ramdeen and Sandals Barbados Public Relations Manager, David Hinds, who both insisted that the hotel brand had done everything above board in receiving approval from the Town and Country Planning Department and National Conservation Commission to construct the 222-room plant.

“From the onset, we will say point blank that we have broken no environmental laws, we have done proper due care and diligence in terms of obtaining approval, the necessary requirements and so on from all the agencies that we needed to consult with before we started construction, and approval was granted for the project,” Hinds highlighted.

In an interview with The Barbados Advocate yesterday, he responded to the concerns expressed by some individuals on the project’s impact on Dover Woods, as pictures have circulated showing a loss in swaths of trees and vegetation.

Stating that the project placed a significant interest on enhancing the area’s natural surroundings, he revealed the resort’s environmental plan outlined that the majority of the trees would be replanted.

“With every development there is an environmental plan, and we have that. We are committed to replanting some of the trees in specific areas and we have also done some work along the natural watercourse,” Hinds added.

Ramdeen argued that as with any of its 16-all inclusive resorts around the Caribbean, the first move for the newest project was to gauge its environmental footprint.
“All along we have worked very closely with Town and Country and with a dendrologist from the authorities, and we have gotten very specific permission to remove trees. However, for every tree that we have removed, we are going to replant. The pictures look very dramatic, however the property isn’t finished and we are going to be replanting a lot of the trees that you would have seen gone down,” he assured.

Insisting that Sandals’ relationship with the residents in the area is harmonious, Hinds called it “unfortunate” that the gentleman who had originally raised the concern had not contacted the resort to find out the facts in the matter before seeking to create alarm.

“If he had came to us and asked questions first, I am not saying it would have changed his mind, but maybe he would have understood what the process was and what we are doing,” the Sandals representative contended.