Report on collapsed hotel due this week

The team investigating the collapse of a section of the Royalton Hotel under construction in Negril is expected this week to present its findings to Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie.

McKenzie formed the team to probe the cause of the collapse which injured five workers on the morning of Tuesday, May 10.

The minister had said hours after the incident that a preliminary report from the Hanover Parish Council revealed several breaches, including the use of inferior material in the construction of the building.

The report said also that work had been conducted outside of what had been approved by the parish council.

A day after the incident, Diana McCaulay, the chief executive officer of the Jamaica Environment Trust, said that the breaches at the construction site was widely known by building authorities as well as the previous and current administration before the collapse occurred.

“Everybody knew. The Hanover Parish knew, the National Environment and Planning Agency knew, the NRCA knew, the previous Cabinet knew and if you notice the date on our press release is April 5th so the new government knew,”McCaulay said during a radio interview.

“The first thing that everybody needs to understand is that this is a problem of longstanding and everyone knew that hotel was in breach from the first shovel full of dirt was dug…” she added.