Port of Belize’s $900M Comeback: What’s Changed?  

Nine hundred million dollars, that’s the price tag on the Port of Belize’s cargo-and-cruise expansion, and tonight you get to weigh in. A similar plan ran aground at the Environmental Impact Assessment stage years ago when the port was in receivership. Now, under government ownership, the Port is taking another shot. So, what’s different this time, and do environmental groups buy in? We put those questions to Prime Minister John Briceño, here’s what he told us.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“I don’t think that is something for me to try to get involved with. We want it to go through its process. I do believe we have the support. We have addressed the issues, the people at the port, NEAC, have addressed the issues to avoid as much as possible any of the siltation to go towards the reef. But like in everything you build a house, you change the environment. But you have to try to contain that. So, that is what we have done. This time around, all the excess dredging material we want to build mangrove islands. So once we put those island, these mounds, we plant the mangroves. Once it grows we will create a new ecosystem and it will be filled with marine life and birds. So that itself could be a new tourist area. The cruise ship passengers can take a kayak and go around these areas and look at the mangroves and look at the marine life and birds.”

 

We’ll be tracking whether this reboot clears the environmental and community hurdles that sank the last try.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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