Minister Habet Verifies 2019 ECP Includes Causeways
Cabinet has asked Chief Environmental Officer, Martin Alegria, to submit a report on the approval process for the Stake Bank causeway and Northern Drowned Caye Development. The approvals and permissions granted to these developments are the subject of an active review to determine validity, including a purported 2019 ECP that is yet to be made public. This morning, we asked Minister Orlando Habet about this investigation during his appearance on Open Your Eyes. He says he has seen the 2019 document.
Orlando Habet
Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development.
“We are hoping that he can finalize this document by next week. Unfortunately, Prime Minister and many of us will be out. So, I think a presentation won’t be made until the following Cabinet meeting when they return, about the ninth of November, we should have that ready. Certainly, it has to do with our long term plan for development. We need to know where we need to go in fifty years or a hundred years. I think we have traditionally, both administrations looked at four years plans, five years plan, because of the time for the next election.”
Paul Lopez
“We have seen the 2013 ECP. We have also seen the 2017 ECP. Does a 2019 ECP exist?”
Orlando Habet
“Yes, there is one.”
Paul Lopez
“Have you seen the document?”
Orlando Habet
“Yes, I have seen it.”
Paul Lopez
“Does it include the causeway?”
Orlando Habet
“It does include the causeway.”
Paul Lopez
“That is to then say that ECP was approved under the former administration?”
Orlando Habet
“The date on the document, I think if am not mistaken is the twentieth of August, 2019. So that would put like a year and two months before the general elections of November eleventh 2020.”
Paul Lopez
“What are the concerns that have caused Cabinet to request a report from Mr. Alegria?”
Orlando Habet
“I believe concerns from some of the NGOs who have voiced their concerns saying that they didn’t know about it, and possibly they wanted to have consultations, and rightfully so. So, how the decision was made, we don’t know, as we were not in government. I heard the Opposition on the news, and some statements made that they didn’t authorize it. We don’t know if they did or did not. According to the law, the Chief Environmental Officer is the person who has the authority to sign. In 2020, somewhere around August of 2020, they did some changes to the regulations, putting the CEO, who would be the chairman of NEAC, the National Environmental Appraisal Committee to be the person to sign. That was 2020, this was signed 2019, a year before. So, my thing is, how you can say you are not aware of it, if it was signed in 2019, and that is fourteen months after you came out of office?”
