C.E.O. Mike Singh doesn’t support the Puerto Azul project
The Puerto Azul luxury facility has come under sustained fire from environmentalists following the launch of the Puerto Azul Experience Party at a glitzy event held in the French Riviera during the Cannes Film Festival. The high-end state of the art facility which is proposed to include an airstrip, mega hotels, shopping malls, restaurants and the likes, is being undertaken by Italian investors at Northern Two Caye near the Lighthouse Reef Atoll. Cabinet has given its nod to the project in the concept stage and Minister of Trade and Economic Development, Erwin Contreras and the Minister of Tourism, Manuel Heredia, were photographed at the Cannes during the party which suggested that the development can count on government support. Today, we asked Contreras’ C.E.O., Mike Singh, about the project and the involvement of his ministry. Singh says that he has seen a draft and that the project is too fantastical.
Michael Singh, C.E.O., Ministry of Trade & Investment
“Puerto Azul is an early stage project; by no means is it at any level where any approvals have been given. I sat on the evaluation committee on the first time the project was presented and I will tell you that my opinion is that some things in the project are a little bit too fantastical. And as a Belizean, there are some things on there that I think needs to be shaved down and my advice to them that if you guys want to do a project in Belize, I think it needs to be at a level that is acceptable to what our environment can handle, to what our culture could handle and that will give maximum benefits to Belizeans. I am not convinced that the first project that I saw does that at all.”
Reporter
Michael Singh
“Can you describe for us how that first project looked since you managed to see it?”
Michael Singh
“Well I think it is the same thing that you are seeing on all the media. It is a large project for development of a high-end, what you call a destination island including the development of an airport. There is mention of fashion boutiques and high-end condominiums and hotel rooms for the ultra rich. One of the concerns I had is that the scale that they are putting it together in their plan, I don’t know how big the ultra rich community in the world is, but the infrastructure to be able to support that on a remote island would have to be quite extensive. And I don’t know that our ecosystem can handle that. That’s my opinion.”
Reporter
“Can you describe some of the parts that you think are too fantastical to be able to even fit on that island that they are looking at?”
Michael Singh
“If you look at the aggregate of everything that is there. When you think about waste disposal, you think about the increased traffic. The idea of putting a runway on top of the reef is preposterous. I’ve been a diver all my life and I don’t believe that that is something that is wise for environment particularly since that is the attraction that is bringing people in. So there are certain things on there that needs to be downscaled. I can’t really go into a lot of details because it is not our job to downscale their own project; they have to do that. I am not aware as to how far they’ve gotten along to purchasing the real estate; we have not been given any indication of any titles being in their name for the real estate so I don’t know if that is completed as yet. That is outside our scope clearly. In respect to submission for environmental impact assessment, I understand that they are preparing their EIA; it has not yet been submitted to the DOE and it has not been evaluated as yet. So at this point, it is simply only at the concept stage that has been given to government.”
@Timber
You are right! Michael Singh is one dumb cracker. Oh, and hurry and tell us the FedEx story… right here on this board.
Singh: “The projects are a bit too fantastical.”
Q: It’s not fantastical when you get your 10% like with NCL. What’s the matter? P-Azul’s principals are not paying up?
Singh: “Some things need to be shaved down.”
Q: Oh, you’re in a shaving mood. What…, were you shaving your boyfriend before that meeting? Let’s bust Belize wide open! What’s the problem? Waste control? Let the developer collect the waste and ship it the f*ck to Timbuktu. We don’t care. Let them bear the financial costs associated with waste. Runway on the reef? Build the runway. Let the reef contribute 0.0001 per cent of itself to the development of this country. Besides, the reef is organic. It will grow around the piles. A little mangrove loss? Redistribute the country’s mangrove stock across the land like was done over the weekend down South. What’s the problem? Oh, wait, you need to get paid first. I’d love to see you with a roll of Franklins stuck in your throat.
Singh: “The project needs to be at a level that our culture can handle.”
Q: What??? Our *cough cough* …. culture ?? Mike, you’ve been smoking that extra THC Mary Jane. It’s a project proposal for a resort for the mega-rich. They provide employment, pay beaucoup taxes, and have their orgies. Mind your own business. Culture does not enter into the equation.
Singh: “I don’t know how big the ultra-rich community in the world is.”
Q: You’re the so-called investment Czar and you don’t read Forbes? The top dime on the rich list can fund Belize’s GDP for the next five hundred years without breaking a sweat.
Mike, getting that job was the easy part. Keeping it is a b*tch, ain’t it? Like Scarface said, “You shudda kept your mouth shut. They woulda thought you was a horse and given the microphone to someone else.”
I guess these Italian investors are willing to risk everything, when this house of cards comes down.
They are probably con artists, just like this government.
Michael who do you think you are?
You job is to suck down Contrerass’ preposterous fantasies.
Do not disrupt the con job, like Contrerass’ Xunatunich 2012 production.
Thieves need to work, get out of the way and do your job.
Who are these professionals second guessing Ali and the 40?
This is bad news indeed for the area so I cannot help but agree with Singh but is he not in agreement because he is not getting to suck from the trough or are his motives for the correct reason; country first?
Lenny, in due time. Mike and his brother think they’re the smartest thing since blue cheese. I also know Erwin; couldn’t even speak English when he came to Belize City. Shy, soft-spoken, mischievious. He used to give Dolores Balderamos hell. I hear from associates of ours to run far from him when I see him. I’ve visited Belize and heard and seen some stuff when I go to the western part of the country. Greed and power corrupts us In business, I know that no project would have been unveiled unless an agreement in principal was made, especially at a venue like the Cannes. Only the best of the best and the rich attend that event. Someone hit it on the head, Mike and Doug aren’t getting their desired share of the pie. I’m not familiar with those cayes but what they’re proposing to build with that type of infrastructure present and needed as well as the barrier reef there, you’re looking at millions and millions of dollars to get this right. Will the locals get jobs? Who will dispose of waste and clean up areas? Let me tell you what’s going to happen, Doug, Mike and a lot of these greedy ,corrupt politicians are going to make deals with people who they don’t know. They will take money upfront trying to guarantee on what they can’t deliver. What they don’t know that there are all kinds of people who have pooled millions to get these projects underway and also as a means to wash money. The “front man” is 99.9 % not the man. Watch when some of these things go “South” and you bodies being found abroad and in Belize. They thin they know who they’re dealing with.