Minister Hulse shocked by thumbs down given to NCL project
The multi-million dollar Norwegian Cruise Lines tourism project in southern Belize has been all but given a green light by the Government of Belize. But government’s approval is not the same thing as welcoming arms everywhere. The Belize Tourism Industry Association has filed a lawsuit against the Government of Belize, and tonight there is word that the Placencia Village Council has unanimously voted against the project. The vote was allegedly taken last Thursday, and it has raised the ire of Godwin Hulse. He’s the head of the Cabinet Sub-committee on investment, and told News Five that as far as he was concerned, the Placencia Village Council was fully on board. A visibly frustrated Hulse had some choice words for project dissenters.
Godwin Hulse, Head, Cabinet Sub-committee on Investment
Godwin Hulse
“I’m dismayed. I met with them the previous Wednesday, and in a meeting with the full council, we had…and this was in the presence of my C.E.O., the Director for Local Government, the Fire Chief, the Director for Rural Development….we had their one hundred percent unequivocal endorsement of the project when we explained how the project is being developed. This whole matter of mass tourism, we explained to them carefully…that when NCL was developing its project, because there was such a hue and cry against tourism in the south, they wanted to develop their exclusive island. They wanted to develop Harvest Cay, and people would only land there, come and go. The Government of Belize said well that’s not going to help us…we need to have people visit the sites, we need to create jobs, tenders, tour guides, bus operators, etc. To balance the cry, Government said to NCL you must bring twenty-five percent of your tourists ashore to visit sites up to the maximum carrying capacity of the sites. The sites are managed by private sector, by Audubon and SATIIM in some cases…up to the maximum carrying capacity. In common sense language, or Creole, if the site can only handle one hundred persons a day, don’t bring a hundred and one. And that was the balance that was struck, so it’s not dumping people there. I’m very surprised to hear that Placencia turned around. And I saw the mails saying that they do not endorse. Man we have to stop flip-flopping and be real. Come on man, we can’t on the one hand say we want jobs, we want jobs for our people and then when investments come we don’t want them. Let’s make up our minds. Weh we no wah…we no want ASR, we no want Stake Bank, we no want NCL…then weh we want…then we seh no investment, so weh we want?”
According to Hulse, they had also reached agreement with the Placencia Village Council on environmental concerns, and thought that was the end of that. We’ll have more on today’s press conference later in the newscast.
Hey lemme quote the Minister: “we no want ASR, we no want Stake Bank, we no want NCL…then weh we want…then we seh no investment, so weh we want.”
The government of the day has created an environment where the government showed the Belize masses that they can do what they want and take away people’s property. They took away BTL, BEL, airport and they noh de pay. No one has been paid…
Now the same people is showing the government that they are simply doing what the government was saying all along that we noh want no foreign investment. It was the government preaching that royal and high and mighty slogan that Belize is better off with no foreigners. And Amandala and whoever joined the bandwagon. Now the Placencia people does the same.
So you cant complain now that the people are doing exactly what their government was saying all along. Foreign investments are bad for Belize.
Face it Minister Hulse, no country can survive without investments, loan and so on. Your government should never have embarked on that splintery slope and took over companies and saying that foreigners are bad for Belize. You will have to just accept it and move on.
You are simply being asked by the people to swallow the same pill your government told them they must swallow. Foreigners are bad for Belize.
Ahhhh, you got betrayed like Judas, Godwin. I guess that’s put a damper in you and Singh hustle. I hope you didn’t make plans already for the backdoor payment you were getting. I heard Singh has it to say that he stood to make millions on this project. He was mediocre at best at SJC now he’s a big time player. He went from messenger for Eurocaribe/Seaboard, to Fed-Ex rep, until Uncle Sam brought down the pressure on them to either close or give it up. Somebody needs to call Mr. Joe Da Mawnin who likes to call people thieves and crooks and who knows should be locked up and ask him to ask Dough Singh why he ran and left everything in US. This will be interesting.
Hulse have to be cuckoo. I di follow dis story from long time now and di people always mi de against it. People no want no pretend investment weh no will give them high value benefits and pon top a dat mess up di environment. He think people simple no? An di next ugly one he weh gone south gone lie to di poor indians dem from sundaywood. Udp da liar liar pants pon fire. Belizeans stay strong and fight fi unu country otherwise tief will take it.
Please stand up against this anyway possible all those who are able to and have influence over the decision making process.
The village council did good by voting against it. There are no infrastructure (roads, pollution prevention, waste management) in place to accommodate the traffic (vehicular and people) that will be generated if they come to town. It would be an environmental disaster!
The people in Placencia and that area can organize and provide their own accommodations for tourists and make the money themselves.
These big companies will suck the life out of your community, ruin your culture and in essence make you slaves to them and when they pull up stakes and leave the people will be left in quandary.
I’ve lived in Placencia for years and have been following this NCL scam since it was first announced. Am I simple for thinking that most people in Placencia have always been against this? Of course they would be! People there have always knocked their own ‘ting and are justifiably proud of the eco-based tourism they created there. Why have a foreign company come in, ride roughshod over the environment and community, hand over some shekels to their Belizean cronies, and take the rest of the loot overseas? Shame on those Belizeans who will sell out their homeland and children’s future for some back door profit.