Waterloo Holds Public Consultation on Proposed Cruise Terminal
A public consultation will get underway in a few minutes at the Biltmore Plaza where stakeholders in the tourism industry, concerned citizens, as well as developers involved with the Waterloo project will discuss the likelihood of a third cruise terminal being built in the Belize District. Tonight’s meeting follows the resubmission of an Environmental Impact Assessment carried out on behalf of Waterloo, as part of the Port of Belize expansion project. According to Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development, a site visit was conducted earlier by members of the National Environmental Appraisal Committee, N.E.A.C. The role of the working group will be to make a final decision on whether the project is viable based on a number of factors being considered. Viewers would recall that a previous E.I.A. was turned down when Waterloo failed to meet certain requirements pertaining to the dredging and disposal of material at sea. News Five spoke with Minister Habet via phone this afternoon.
On the phone: Orlando Habet
On the phone: Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development
“The company, the group, submitted their resubmission of their project. That went directly to the Department of Environment and with their staff [they] did the terms of reference and so now they are looking at the Environmental Impact Assessment and before it goes to NEAC, the Department of the Environment will have to do the consultations. Today, I think the NEAC went to the site with the NEAC members and I guess the proponents for the project to look at the site and whatever NEAC will look at and ask questions or they would provide information that NEAC requests and then the Department of the Environment will review the Environmental Impact Assessment report, provide a summary report to the NEAC and then the NEAC will sit over it and make a decision for a recommendation to the Department of the Environment of a yes or a no or that they require further information or whatever it is that they require.”
