The National Land Agency (NLA) has withdrawn an offer to lease lands bordering the protected Holywell National Forest Park in St Andrew for the construction of a private dwelling.

Executive director of the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT), Dr Susan Otuokon, told The Gleaner this afternoon that she received an email from the NLA’s head Elizabeth Stair advising of the decision.

The JCDT is a non-government organisation that manages the Holywell National Park on behalf of the state.

Otuokon wrote to the NLA on June 11 “strenuously objecting” to the offer she said was being made for lands within the national park and the buffer zone of the park, without the non-objection of the JCDT.

The JCDT head explained that while the organisation is a leaseholder, the nature of the lease makes the situation akin to that of a freeholder, which includes the right to object to a change in use of land not consistent with the preservation and use of a national park.