G.O.B. issues stop order on Carnival Cruise Terminal project

The Carnival Cruise Terminal project was heralded as a mega project in the tourism industry that would have spurred economic activity in the south side of the city with a modern facility for the cruise industry. But from its early days the project ran into plenty problems. The latest issue involves and order to stop ongoing work delivered to Ports of Belize. Kendra Griffith reports.

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
Back to back dump trucks slowed the traffic downtown this morning as angry truckers from Belize Ports Limited protested by driving through town honking their horns.

Trucker
“We noh di demonstrate, but round Belize if you noh seh nothing and you noh mek noise dehn wah walk ova yoh and as yoh get up and try she something everybody try mash yoh down. Yoh noh fi she nothing. Dehn thing noh correct. Why di man wah stop fi we job.”

The men were objecting to the decision by government to issue a cease and desist order to Belize Ports Limited to stop construction on the Carnival Cruise Terminal.

Santiago Baeza, Truck Driver
“This morning we got the dreadful news that the project was being stopped by the Government of Belize and at this point in time it’s the only job we truckers have in the whole country. There are about a hundred truckers working on this project. This project is the Carnival terminal that they are doing at the Port Authority and also the Free Zone. We have not gotten in touch with exactly why they stop it. I don’t think they have any reasons why to tell us, but they all just said the government has stopped the project.”

The protest didn’t last very long as the Traffic Officers and police worked quickly to get them out of the way.

The men, however, parked their trucks at the old Yabra cemetery and made the short trek by foot to the Prime Minister’s law offices.

Having anticipated that move, a host of police officers were awaiting their arrival… ready to block their entrance to the building.

Santiago Baeza
“All we are asking the government, please give us back our jobs; that’s all we want. Just give us back our jobs, we need our jobs, that’s all we want. We have had—and it’s no news for he country—a severe weather for six months and we have been unable to work. We have bills to pay, we owe business establishments, and we just thank those people that are so considerate to us that are waiting. They were so happy to hear we are back again on the job and we are working. For the government to stop this project one week before Christmas, Kendra, one week and that is what is hurting us. I think it is very unfair for the U.D.P. government to tell us merry Christmas this way.”

But Prime Minister Dean Barrow was not at the office… News Five caught up with him at Price Barracks in Ladyville and he had strong words for Espat.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“I sympathize with them but what they need to understand is that they have been hired by Luke Espat, who is paying them, who is employing them to act in a manner that is illegal. They don’t need to blame the government; they need to blame Luke Espat. The Ministry of Natural Resources, the Department of the Environment spoke to him. Luke Espat took a deliberate decision that he will not cease and desist, despite having been warned. That then meant that it was time for a formal order to be served on him and for the forces of law and order to prevent him from continuing to act in this reckless illegal, disrespectful manner.”

Luke Espat, Developer, Carnival Cruise Terminal
“We have been going through a series of discussions with government over and over with only lip service brought to the table and then last we received a stop order, which we did not comply with and we proceeded to continue building the dykes for the dredging works that are supposed to be occurring shortly. Yesterday the police arrived again and we thought it was in the best interest of the company not to proceed and close the works until government made up their mind as to what they want to do.”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“I really feel strongly about this, Mr. Espat is not above the law and he needs to get that through his head. And the government will do whatever is necessary to make him respect the law, to make him act in a way consistent with the law.”

The crux of the matter, it seems, rests in who owns the land… the government or Espat.

Kendra Griffith
“What reasons did they give in the order for you to cease?”

Luke Espat
“They said we have a lease, which is not so. We have a title that they have kept and reassessed. Two, they said that we are filling the sea, which is not so. We are building dykes on the land side of the area, but I think that’s a legal matter to be settled with the attorneys and the courts. There are a lot of pending problems with the Ministry of Natural Resources including land issues which they have reassessed on us and we met with government and agreed to certain things which have not been… those commitments were not kept. We met with the Ministry of Tourism with no results. We met with the government E.I.A. department which is the Ministry of the Environment which is also under the Ministry of Tourism to get a finality on the dredging implementation plan and we have still not been able to achieve that.”

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“Mr. Espat has been warned, you do not own the land in that area, you need to regularize the situation. You can’t think that you will bull your way into doing what is patently illegal and that the government will stand idly by and allow you, Mr. Espat, to trample on the laws of the country, to disrespect the system, it’s not going to happen. He says that the last government had already agreed to give him this property. Whether they agree to or not, there has been a change in administration and we’ve said to him it’s not a problem with your being allowed to purchase what you want but you must do so at the fair price and you must in fact go through the procedures; he has not done that.”

Kendra Griffith
“Since its inception, this project has been plagued with problems.”

Luke Espat
“Yes because everybody had self interests. A lot of people had self interest and we have stayed the course, we continue to stay the course. A lot of people talked that they would like to put money into these types of projects but it’s not an easy task. And as I said, it is not easy now with the global recession the way it is. So it needs serious thought to be put to it. Government has got to look at it as a part of their national development plan with us. We have done our part, we continue to do our part and we stay prepared; ready to work, ready to listen, ready to answer whatever questions they might have or concerns they might have.”

Kendra Griffith
“Will this project ever come to fruition?”

Luke Espat
“Well, we have decided that there are two choices we are faced with, bring damages against the government because as you know this project was approved by the National Assembly. We did not invest the money just to invest it. We did not buy a port because we just wanted a port unless it could be in conjunction. That was known from day one that we were successful in our tender because economically it cannot function on its own unless you bring the port industry together. And we have decided now that we still stay open to meet with government tomorrow, today; any moment to just continue operation but to get the documentation we need signed.”

And until the two parties settle their differences, the truckers won’t be back on teh job. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.

Espat and G.O.B. are also at odds over a parcel of land at mile three on the Western Highway which Espat maintains he owns.