BELIZE CITY, Tues. Nov. 16, 2021 — Yesterday, when questioned by local reporters, Hon. Rodwell Ferguson, the Minister of Public Utilities, Energy and Logistics, under whose portfolio all matters involving the country’s ports fall, stated explicitly what most had silently acknowledged — that the Port Coral project is a “reality” on the Belizean landscape, and that, given the advanced stage of infrastructural work that has already taken place, the process of launching this new cruise facility will not be reversed. It means that so far, of the three port projects that were vying for the green light from GoB — the Port Coral (Stake Bank) project, the Waterloo project (a proposed port to be constructed at the Port of Belize Ltd. ) and the Port of Magical Belize — Port Coral has emerged as the first winner. It now remains to be seen which of the other two projects — the Lord-Ashcroft-affiliated Waterloo cruise terminal and cargo port (Waterloo) or the Port of Magical Belize being spearheaded by the David Gegg-affiliated Portico, will be given approval.

Ferguson said that by January 2022, a new port policy will be released by his Ministry. He said that he is focused at this time on having the “best possible policy” drafted, through consultation, and that policy will be centered on the northern, central, and southern ports.
It is to be noted that the proposed locations of all three ports currently in the public spotlight — Port Coral, Port of Magical Belize and Waterloo — are in the northern area. In regard to these three, Hon. Ferguson said, “I know Port Coral is already building, that is already a reality. The rest are still in their initial stage.”

It is also to be noted that the current PUP administration has gone on record to confirm their support of the expansion of the cargo storage facility at the Port of Belize, a development which is annexed to the proposed Waterloo cruise port. That project has not yet received full environmental clearance due to objections from both environmental groups, who are concerned about the impact of the dumping of large amounts of dredged material on the surrounding marine environment, and the Belize Water Services Ltd., whose CEO, Alvan Haynes, wrote to the Department of Environment that the 3-5 million cubic meters of dredged material would be dumped between its sewer ponds and on top of an important mangrove wetland used for wastewater treatment, which would contaminate the water treatment plant in that area. No new update has been given since the public consultation on that development.

When asked about what has now become the controversial causeway development, Minister Ferguson said that it was not within his “purview” to speak on that particular issue. “That is not my ministry. I know they have to go to the different environmental people to make sure everything was done the proper way,” he said.

For now, the PUP remains silent on the outcome of the review of the process through which soon-to-be-removed Chief Environmental Officer, Martin Alegria, issued the 2019 ECP approval for the causeway. Alegria signed on to the 2019 ECP which gave approval for both causeways, and in a press conference with local media said that public consultations were already done on the project in 2013. Members of the previous UDP administration, under which the ECP was issued, however, have said that they only approved the development on the island, since the causeway development was, even then, a very controversial topic.

While the public awaits the results of the review, the development of Port Coral continues, as confirmed by Minister Ferguson — suggesting that nothing found in that review of the 2019 ECP, if already completed, was of a nature that could put a halt to the project. For now, it is clear that this PUP government, or at least one Minister, has blessed the Port Coral development at Stake Bank Island.