In a release yesterday, JET said while on a routine visit of the construction site for the sewage treatment facility in September 2010, JET observed a concrete batching plant which authorities confirmed was encroaching on part of the land required for the facility.

After investigations, JET learned from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) that the plant was operating without an environmental permit as well.

The release said that nearly seven months later and after repeatedly reporting the matter to NEPA, the concrete batching plant was in operation on Wednesday.

time-frame mandate

JET said it is dismayed by the lack of urgency displayed by NEPA in enforcing the law against the operator of the concrete batching plant and concerned that the National Water Commission (NWC) might not meet its obligations to fix the sewerage plant in the time-frame mandate by the court. "It was this same failure by regulators to enforce the law that contributed to the lack of a functioning sewage treatment plant for nearly 30 years for Harbour View. The residents of Harbour View deserve better than this," Diana McCaulay, CEO of JET, said in the release.

On July 6, 2010, JET and residents of Harbour View had obtained a consent judgment in their claim against NWC, and other government agencies including NEPA and the NRCA. The court order requires NWC to construct an interim facility to treat the sewage collected from Harbour View within six months and to construct a permanent sewage treatment plant within 18 months.

The order also recognised the failure of NEPA and the NRCA to enforce the law against the NWC.

'It was this same failure by regulators to enforce the law that contributed to the lack of a functioning sewage treatment plant for nearly 30 years ... '