P.M. urges use of alternative energy

Speaking at the opening ceremonies of the CARILEC symposium this morning, Prime Minister Said Musa took the opportunity to once again call for support of Belize Electricity Limited’s hydro-electricity project at Chalillo on the upper Macal River.

Prime Minister Said Musa

“We need to find the right balance between official intervention and industry decisions and a healthy respect for environmental considerations. For our part, government needs to confine itself to areas where it can contribute best, the creation of a stable legislative climate and oversight on monetary mechanisms. This will allow a socially just market economy to do what it does best, efficiently provide the goods and services that consumers want at reasonable rates.”

“And I join with our Governor General, who last evening in a very spirited address to you was unambiguous in proclaiming that we cannot allow selfish vested interest to dictate our future. Yes, we must continue to protect our environment and hold things in balance, but we cannot allow environmental lobbyists and their high paid lawyers to decide the destiny of a nation.”

The legal battles over the Chalillo dam continue on July fifteenth when the Supreme Court will be asked to decide whether the National Environmental Appraisal Committee breached procedure in giving the project the environmental go-ahead in November 2001.