Portico Seeks Revocation of Stake Bank’s Environmental Clearance

A letter from Morales and Company, the law firm representing Portico Enterprises Limited, has been sent to Chief Environmental Officer Anthony Mai.  This is in respect of an alleged breach of the conditions of an Environmental Compliance Plan granted to Stake Bank for the construction of Port Coral.  The correspondence refers to an appearance on Channel Seven’s Uncut where the principal for Stake Bank Enterprises reportedly admitted that the payment of monitoring fees in the sum of seven hundred thousand dollars remains outstanding.  The letter goes on to say, “in comparison to Stake Bank’s gross violation of its obligation to pay monitoring fees, Portico has paid a total of three hundred thousand dollars in monitoring fees which were assessed by the Department of Environment before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic”.  As many as fourteen violations are cited in the letter, including a claim by Portico that there are no detailed geotechnical studies/assessments of Stake Bank Caye and of the proposed site for the cruise ship trestle way, to investigate the stratigraphy of the rocks and unconsolidated materials.  The letter also points out that the Environmental Compliance Plan provides for the revocation of environmental clearance based on the infractions.  As such, Morales and Company, on behalf of Portico, is asking the Chief Environmental Officer to cancel Stake Bank’s environmental clearance.