Our attempts to get comment from Eberto Mai, the Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Communications (responsible for ports) as well as Attorney General, Hon. Francis Fonseca, proved futile. But we spoke with other Government officials who confirmed that Lufthansa had sent the Government of Belize a notice of arbitration two months ago, seeking arbitration under the United Nations.

The arbitration, according to our sources, would be conducted under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Three arbitrators are to be appointed – one for Lufthansa Consulting, one for Belize and the third mutually agreed on by both parties.

While we could not ascertain the name of the Lufthansa arbitrator, we were informed that Dr. Albert K. Fiadjoe, a law professor at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados, would serve as Belize?s arbitrator. The third arbitrator has yet to be appointed, we were told.

In November of 2003, we had reported that according to officials of the Belize Airport Authority (BAA), the Government of Belize had decided to end talks with Lufthansa because it had not met its deadlines.

However, in its recent challenge to the Government of Belize, Lufthansa is reportedly claiming that the Government of Belize was too hasty and did not give it time to correct the situation.

Lufthansa?s alliance with GOB dates back to 2000, when, according to GOB, the company offered to take over the management of the PGIA.

On December 29, 2003, GOB announced that it had instead entered into a management contract with the Belize Airport Concession Company (BACC)?a consortium of Belizean and foreign investors. GOB listed them as: the Mena group of companies; the Roe group of companies; the Airport Investment Group Limited, led by Edward ?Billy? Musa, Sr.; International Global Investment Group Corporation; a UK investor; and Global Investment Inc., a group of medical doctors from Florida, USA.

An Amandala check at the Registry revealed that BACC was registered through Apex Trust Corporation Limited, which, we were informed, is a subsidiary of the W.H. Courtenay and Co. law firm.

The then Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, former Senator Eamon Courtenay, had told Amandala that Lufthansa had pledged to invest $200 million in Belize over the first 10 years of the project, and up to $300 million over the life of the agreement.

The BAA had said in December 2003 that BACC would expand the runway by 2,000 feet. Under the concession agreement, BACC had committed to runway extension, terminal building upgrading, apron expansion, and improvements to the access road and cargo facilities.

The BAA reports today that the works are behind, but says that the delay may be outside BACC?s control.

While our reports are that Lufthansa is seeking US$33 million in damages, our sources say that it is unlikely that they would be awarded that much money, even though they appear to have an arguable case against the Government of Belize.