Horizon gathered that construction of the house resumed even before the approval of the permit.
Workers were seen working on the site when Horizon took a picture of the site in the morning of August 28.Sources said that Environmental Quality Protection Board held a meeting on August 28 to discuss the penalty of the said violation.Sources said the President was ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 and was given ten days to comply with the fine and to contest the amount.Sources said that the president settled his fine only yesterday afternoon.EQPB Executive Officer Portia K. Franz in an interview yesterday said that they cannot release any information yet because the respondent has yet to receive the copy of the Board’s decision.The Board’s order has yet to be delivered to the respondent today.In an earlier interview, Franz said that EQPB inspected the construction site on August 8 and immediately ordered the workers to stop further work on the President Remengesau’s house until proper permits are acquired from EQPB.Franz said that EQPB issued a notice of violation to President Remengesau, the construction firm, the construction firm’s owner, and foreman at the construction site on August 12. On august 18 the First Lady, Mrs. Debbie Remengesau submitted to EQPB applications for required permits.In an earlier interview Franz said the amount of the fine for the violations of the EQPB regulations was to be determined by the Board on August 28.Horizon gathered that the Board had made a decision on August 28 and had approved of the applications and thus, the permits could have been issued.However, Franz refused confirmation of the information and said that the standard procedure is— to only release the information after the applicants or the cited is served notice of the board’s decision.Based on Franz’s interview, Horizon also learned that a similar were issued in Chol, Ngaraard earlier for similar violations.A businessman was also cited for the same violation for constructing four commercial bongalow units without securing permits.The businessman could have been fined as much as a $10,000 for the violations; but the board, after discussing the violations with the businessman, reduced he fine to $500.The businessman did stop further work on his cottages as ordered by EQPB. Further he received his EQPB permits only after he paid the $500 fine and has since began work to complete his cottages. He had complied with the EQPB’s orders.
