26.7 C
Belize City
Thursday, March 28, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

Photo: Students and staff of Stella Maris...

BPD awards 3 officers with Women Police of the Year

Photo: (l-r) Myrna Pena, Carmella Cacho, and...

Suicide on the rise!

Photo: Iveth Quintanilla, Mental Health Coordinator by Charles...

Bipartisanship is not enough

HighlightsBipartisanship is not enough

The huge multi-million dollar “Stake Bank” project, from what it sounded like in the House of Representatives meeting last week, is a “done deal.”

In Belize, when the two major political parties agree on something, there is usually nothing that can be done to change it, because that should mean the vast majority of the Belizean people, their followers, are represented in that decision.

While we acknowledge that “progress brings problems,” and there will always be a downside to every forward move, I don’t buy the apparently logical argument that, because the PUP and the UDP agree on something, that it is therefore good for Belize.

A few years ago, around 2006, if my memory is correct, this same project, then claimed to be a $200,000,000 (200 million dollars) investment, was proposed at an EIA meeting where citizens got to voice their concerns and objections, and there were many.

The legendary “Chocolate” Heredia was there among the dissenters, as well as a number of young UB students doing courses in environmental science. This was under the PUP administration of Prime Minister Said Musa. And this was after Stake Bank had already been razed to rubble and filled up with sand, without any prior environmental clearance given by the Department of the Environment.

The UDP, as a party, was silent on this occasion, and the Stake Bank project, despite its promises of hundreds of jobs, went quietly into the night – on to the backburner.

Citizens in Placencia are now voicing strong concerns with the proposed Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Harvest Caye project down south. Those citizens are concerned about the future of their environment and their vulnerable tourist industry in the south. The massive dredging entailed in this big development, which will destroy many acres of mangrove on Harvest Caye, could also have devastating effects on the ecosystem of the area.

The present UDP government had previously expressed its strong support for the project, and the PUP mouthpieces had expressed no negative opinions either – all appeared to be okay with both political parties. It seems that neither wanted to appear to frown upon any project that would bring “jobs for citizens.”

But it is those citizens with voices who are bringing the Harvest Caye principals into check, to ensure that our people don’t end up losing “what we had” while chasing the big dreams of “foreign investors.”

Lately in Belize City, the voices have been silent, where dissent against the Stake Bank project is concerned. But what, aside from a change of government, has changed since 2006 to make the project now acceptable? It is not surprising that the PUP are jumping on board to support the project now.

Their “people” were likely involved in the first incarnation back in 2006, and they will still have a stake in the action. The UDP are in control now, and, like good politicians, they can see little wrong with getting “hundreds of jobs” for our citizens. Both the UDP and PUP leadership are therefore gung-ho on the Stake Bank deal. But have they had any meaningful consultation with residents of Belize City and other stakeholders in the tourist industry, aside from the cruise tourism people? Has the discussion been made public?

If citizens someday “sorry the hour and damn the day” when we had lost our “pristine,” natural appeal and innocence, and see all the “pickings” going to outside and “special interests,” they will remember that both the UDP and the PUP were fully onboard with the Stake Bank plan.

The lesson here is simple, like with the yet-to-materialize “Sunny City” elite housing development in Ladyville that usurped the huge 5,000-acre shrimp farm project which once employed many hundreds of Belizeans — no politician, certainly neither “Dol Dol” nor “Hutchy,” said a word against “Sunny City;” only a few citizens had some concerns.

There needs to be more information to, and involvement from, the public about this massive offshore project that will definitely impact Belize City in ways we might not realize right now. The career public officers of the Fisheries Department and the Department of the Environment have been too silent. Fisher folk and their market customers, small tourism operators, and local and foreign visitors to our adjacent reef and cayes need to ponder the impact on water quality and fishing in the area from such a huge manmade land reclamation and hotel project.

The land on St. George’s Caye, Caye Caulker, San Pedro and many smaller offshore cayes was placed there by nature, but the Drowned Cayes are primarily natural mangrove swamp, like Stake Bank was, to be turned into land by massive dredging of the adjacent silt flats. And will the causeway/bridge to Belize City’s Marine Parade still be constructed, blighting our natural skyline and creating an impediment for sailing traffic?

Citizens need to get a clear picture of all the plans, before we should rest secure in the green light approval given by our UDP and PUP leaders. Bi-partisanship is not enough; the third force — the people — needs to know what is going on. And presently, with the grand Stank Bank project, we don’t.

Check out our other content

World Down Syndrome Day

Suicide on the rise!

Check out other tags:

International