Plans for a £21 million visitor centre at the Giant's Causeway World Heritage site in Co Antrim are to be dropped.
Enterprise Minister Nigel Dodds said the decision to proceed with the winning design produced by Dublin firm Heneghan Peng Architects "would not be a prudent use of taxpayers' money".
He cited his party colleague and Environment Minister Arlene Foster's position on an alternative private-sector planning application.
The original centre was destroyed by a fire in 2000 and a design competition for a replacement at the 60-million-year-old causeway was held. Róisín Heneghan's winning entry beat 200 competitors and was hailed by former northern secretary Peter Hain as "stunning".
After power was devloved to the Stormont Executive on May 8th, however, Mrs Foster said she was considering a private-sector alternative. Despite the spending of more than £1 million in development costs to date, Mr Dodds said his department was involved in the project as "a potential developer of last resort", and he claimed that stakeholders had been unable to reach agreement on the project.
Mrs Foster said: "I have asked my officials to engage with the developer and key local stakeholders on some aspects of the proposal so that I can make a formal decision on it at the earliest opportunity."
She has received a report from the planning service on a planning application by Seaport Investments Ltd for a new centre at the site.
"I have concluded that there is considerable merit in what is proposed and I am of a mind to approve it," she said.
Seaport Investments stated: "The planning application is for a world-class visitor and study centre on lands wholly owned by the developer and his company, and has been conceptualised and designed by a team with a global track record for working on and delivering schemes of similar unique specifications on sensitive sites.
"Recognising the uniqueness and sensitivity of the Giant's Causeway World Heritage site, the planning application has been designed to ensure that the visitor centre is assimilated with the natural topography of its environs, thereby ensuring its total integration with the landscape by removing the need for building on the ridgeline, whilst at the same time, addressing and solving the present unsatisfactory state of road access and parking issues at the site."
However, the decision was quickly attacked by Sinn Féin. North Antrim Assembly member Daithi McKay claimed the private development would harm the site.
"The building of this private visitors' centre will take place on an entirely new site and will result in a lot of damage to the landscape around the World Heritage site. There is a lot of concern that the full environmental impact of this proposal has not been taken into account," he said.
Mr McKay said there could be a conflict of interest between the DUP and the developer.