By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

Ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ROYAL Caribbean International (RCI) is following the same environmental protocols for its Paradise Island project that Atlantis and Baha Mar followed for their multi-million dollar ventures, according to Tourism Aviation and Investments Minister Chester Cooper.

He said if those guidelines and protocols worked for the “billion dollar investments” of the two resorts, he is confident they will work for RCI’s $100m investment.

The minister was reacting to RCI’s environmental plans amid pushback from Atlantis executives and environmentalists.

He said: “I have not had a chance to look at the environmental plans yet of RCI. Suffice to say, they are following the same protocols, which are the standard programme protocols in Department of Environmental Planning and Protection.”

The minister acknowledged the commentary surrounding the project and invited individuals to give their suggestions to the DEPP.

“I am confident that these protocols and laws and the professionalism and expertise of DEPP will continue to prevail. I keep saying that if these guidelines and protocols were good enough for the billion dollar investments of Atlantis and Baha Mar and they worked, I’m confident they will work for the $100m investment of RCI,” Mr Cooper said.

“I think, you know, there’s some anxiety. We need to allow the professionals to do their work. If we have any concerns, we ought to express those concerns. Notwithstanding their expertise, they might miss something. But what we want to do is to ensure that the public is heard and therefore DEPP through their public consultation is always interested in legitimate feedback.”

“So if there’s an environmental concern, it will be heard – it will be addressed. If there’s a suggestion from anybody in the public, DEPP will consider those adjustments and will ensure that they are addressed in the best interests of the Bahamian people. We are all Bahamians. We all love our country.”

“We all want the best for our country and I hear some environmental pundits who may have some expertise in the area making that commentary publicly. I would invite them to send their suggestions to DEPP so that they can be properly considered and the responses can be measured and deliberate and ensuring that we address the issues.”