Jamaica’s natural resources conservation authority (NRCA) has begun reviewing an EIA submitted by Cement Jamaica Limited (CJL), an official from the national environment and planning agency told BNamericas.

The project, which includes construction of a cement plant and limestone quarry at the Esquivel port industrial complex in St Catherine parish, has an estimated cost of US$340m, according to the EIA.
"We’ve just circulated the EIA to external agencies and relevant personnel for them to review it and they are supposed send comments back to us within 30 days," the official said.

NRCA’s board will issue the final decision on the project, which expected in a few months’ time.
The plant would produce 900,000t of cement clinker in its first year of production, with capacity to produce 1.5Mt by 2015, three-quarters of which would be for export.

If the project is approved, CJL will become Jamaica’s second cement producer. Currently, Caribbean Cement Company Limited (CCCL) is the country’s only cement manufacturer.