PM: LOO “sings” for Waterloo supper

Black Immigrant Daily News

PM Briceño stated at a House of Representatives meeting on Friday that Waterloo Investment Holdings Limited has not submitted critical pieces of information, without which there can be no issuance of environmental approval by the NEAC.

BELIZE CITY, Mon. July 18, 2022A question posed by the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Moses “Shyne” Barrow, during Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives that seemed aimed at pushing the government to expedite approval of the Waterloo Investment Holdings’ cruise terminal project—despite considerable environmental and community concerns surrounding the project— has been referred to by Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño as an effort by Hon. Barrow to sing “for his supper”. Barrow seized an opportunity at the House meeting to ask what the government was doing to “find solutions to the problems stalling the Waterloo port proposal project”—a question that, Prime Minister Briceno pointed out, could easily have been presented to the Minister of Sustainable Development rather than in the House, where the most critical national issues are addressed. The expansion of the Port of Belize proposed by Waterloo Investment Holdings – reportedly a Lord Michael Ashcroft-owned company — to create a cruise and cargo docking facility, was rejected by the National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC) in December of 2021.

At the time of the rejection of the proposal, a reason for the denial was not released to the public, although there had been numerous expressions of concern about the potential impact of the project from environmentalists, community members and even the Belize Water Services Ltd. It was later reported that the NEAC received an amended proposal from Waterloo which is still being reviewed. But during Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, Prime Minister Briceño, in response to the question posed by the Leader of the Opposition, said, “In the most recent update to Cabinet, (the NEAC), indicated that some critical information from the applicant remain pending and with absence to that information, approval or disapproval could not be given.”There has been speculation by the Prime Minister that the government’s lack of intervention in the process in order to guarantee approval of the project—despite the efforts by two other developers to construct cruise facilities within a small geographical area—has prompted acts of spite by the owner of Waterloo, who is said to be Lord Michael Ashcroft. In reference to rumors that Lord Achcroft might be supporting the churches in a referendum process that could derail government’s attempt to create a cannabis industry, Prime Minister Briceño said, “He is a Belizean citizen and he has a lot of money, and if he wants to support the church to spite us because we have not given him clearance on the NEAC, I mean, that’s his right. The point that I made is that there is a process under the NEAC that a company has to go through. The Port of Belize, Waterloo, when they were doing their presentation to NEAC, there was some extra information that was being asked of them, and they refuse to provide it, and it is because of that refusal then the NEAC decided that at that time they would not.”

At the time of the rejection, Waterloo principals made an allegation that NEAC members had approached them in an attempt to seek bribes and that their rejection of the overtures is what led to the ultimate denial of their project. Those allegations were never substantiated. Waterloo ultimately opted to resubmit an application for review in an attempt to move forward from what it described as a “chaotic” three-year process.

Now, according to the PM, the process is once again stalled because of what he said is key information that has not been provided by the company as a part of this most recent addendum. At the time of the initial rejection of Waterloo’s proposal, the company had said that they had spent more than $5 million, and, in fact, as much as $10 million, in developing its plans for the project. The company, which carried out a second consultation exercise after environmental concerns were raised by environmental groups and the Belize Water Services Ltd., due to the proposed offshore dumping of dredged material that would be generated by the project, later proposed on and near-shore solutions instead.

The company has suggested that the disposal of such dredged material was the only pending matter to be addressed, but during an interview in late December, Minister of Sustainable Development Hon. Orlando Habet said, “…some of that information is missing, as to where all that material will be placed. If there are ten, for example, and you [are] showing me eight, where is the other two cubic meters? So, I think some of that. As I said, I don’t know all the details, but it doesn’t sound like they have provided all the information asked for.”

So, the parties are once again at this juncture, and there is no indication if Waterloo Investment Holdings has submitted the additional information being sought by the NEAC. The PM said that until that information is handed down, a decision cannot be made by the NEAC on the Port of Belize expansion and cruise terminal project.

“Once again, the government’s position is simple: the law requires a NEAC approval for a project of this nature, and magnitude. No less than the health of the Belize Barrier Reef is at stake. The approval process is therefore squarely a matter between the applicant and the NEAC. Government will not prejudice this process one way or the other,” Prime Minister Briceño told Hon. Barrow.

“If they get their clearance, of course, they’re going to get the support of the government, because we need to modernize the port for cargo, and also there is a need for a cruise terminal, so it’s not that we are against the project. It’s simply that we can’t do anything by law until it passes the NEAC,” PM Briceño further said.

Interestingly, an editorial featured in last Tuesday’s edition of the Amandala, stated, “… It is no secret that Ashcroft’s Belize Bank has been the receiver, for almost a decade, for the Port of Belize, and that he has publicly joined all plans for undertaking necessary repairs and modernizing of the port facilities with his desire to also turn it into a modern cruise tourism facility – Waterloo. And the history of Ashcroft in Belize has been: what Ashcroft wants, Ashcroft gets…. There are major environmental concerns, especially with respect to our Barrier Reef, involved with realizing the planned Waterloo Cruise Port facility; but the tried and proven Ashcroft formula seems to be: money can solve every problem. So, Belize’s “Blue Bond” recently made us an international star at the UN Oceans Conference (See Amandala page 13 of Friday, July 8, 2022.) So what? … He hired the best he could find in Belize and secured top flight E.I.A. consultants from abroad… So, there is a Barrier Reef concern? …. So what if the Port Coral (Stake Bank) guys think that Waterloo’s approval will spell a death knell to the viability of their project?…”

The editorial also noted that Ashcroft could also “choose to throw his ‘weight’ behind the Opposition.”

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