Stake Bank Lawsuit Goes Before the Supreme Court

Today, attorneys for David Gegg were back in court where they argued on behalf of Portico Enterprises, the parent company for Port of Magical Belize. The suit which has been brought on behalf of developer Mike Feinstein against the Government of Belize and the National Environmental Appraisal Committee, NEAC, also includes Portico and Waterloo as interested parties. Portico is being represented by the law firm of attorney David Morales, while Waterloo is represented by Marine Parade Chambers. Feinstein, who is the principal for Port Coral/Stake Bank, is represented by the law firm of Glenn D. Godfrey. In court today, lawyers sought to dismiss the application filed on behalf of Port Coral which they say missed the deadline for filing. That matter will be decided on Thursday morning. On Tuesday News Five spoke with Gegg who said Belize is ripe for cruise tourism, but larger carriers are only prepared to call on Belize’s port if there are mainland docking facilities.

David Gegg, Port of Magical Belize

David Gegg

“I remember our prime minister saying months back that the markets will decide and that’s what this meeting is.  I reached out to the FCCA several months ago and I invited them to see what we’re doing and it’s been in the planning stages for quite some time but they’re here.  It’s a short window of time to share with them everything that Magical Belize represents, but I think we did so effectively because yesterday we flew over the entire port area by helicopter which was the fastest way to have them see everything that needed to be seen.  You’ve heard what the president of the FCCA has said, cruise tourism can play a huge role in the future of Belize, employing thousands of Belize but it needs to be a mainland docking facility which we are doing, and I think what everything boils down to is location, location, location. The discussion in the port space is very volatile, as we all know.  I’ve been trying to stay under the radar.  Obviously with FCCA here, I can’t.  So I will say this, we signed our ECP in April of last year, it mandates us to do certain things in phases and we have been doing that.  We have teams on the ground since then that are working today and tomorrow and next week and next month to accomplish what we need to accomplish in phase one of our environmental compliance plan.”