Daryl Vaz, the minister with responsibility for the environment, has admitted that he knew the “sensitivity” of his position in government when he offered to lease lands bordering the protected Holywell National Forest Park in St Andrew to build a private cabin.

Vaz has been forced to come public following a Jamaica Observer report today in which the caretakers of the park raised concerns that the National Land Agency (NLA) was leasing lands within the buffer zone of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, a world heritage site.

In Photo: A section of the Holywell National Forest Park in St Andrew

Vaz said his initial 2019 application for the 7.7-acre property was approved by the Forestry Department but a divestment committee later decided that the land should be advertised.

The Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust, which manages Holywell, wrote to the NLA on June 11 objecting to the lease offer, noting that the proposed land is one of the few remaining sites in the area "under good forest cover and will require the clearing of trees".

It also noted that the land was within the area submitted by the National Environment and Planning Agency for expansion of the Holywell recreational area.