Chief Environmental Officer Shares Reasons Behind Rejection of Port Project

Earlier this week, the Department of Environment issued a release on its decision not to approve the Port of Belize Cruise Tourism Facility and Cargo Expansion Project in the Port Loyola area of Belize City. The principals of the proposed development have been informed and, as was confirmed by Chief Environmental Officer Anthony Mai, the developer has twenty-one days in which it can write the Minister of Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management, Orlando Habet to appeal the decision made by the department. Mai says that despite the cruise tourism plan speaking of the need for docking facilities for bigger ships, given the scope of the project, it was simply too risky to give the green light.

Anthony Mai

Anthony Mai, Chief Environmental Officer, Department of Environment

“The developer now is informed that collectively these two components, the department has decided not to grant approval for the proposal. The developer again has all the rights to relook at what they want to do. If it is that they want to make a second or a next submission, the submission in my opinion will have to really have to consider a reduction in the volumes of dredge spoil that they are proposing. We discussed in the NEAC and realise that the expansion of the port is something that is important for the country, but the NEAC felt that this time that the merging with the tourism component, which increases the amount of dredge spoil that is removed is something that is too risky. In the NEAC meeting, the Ministry of Tourism was at the meeting to provide guidance and information as it relates specifically to the question that you just ask and the relevance that this project would have on the tourism sector as a whole. We haven’t heard anything from the investors. We informed the investors in the correspondence that we sent to them that they have a twenty-one day period within which they can write to the minister responsible for the environment to appeal the decision of the Department of the Environment.”