Last night on the news we told you all about the Stake Bank Cruise Tourism Project, and its sister development, the Ocean View Grand On North Drowned Caye. Developer Mike Feinstein says it will cost 100 million dollars, while creating thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity. But from what we've heard, Government is not quite convinced – and some at the policy level worry that Stake Bank might just be moving a lot of jobs and economic activity from the Fort Point area of the City to an offshore island that has non taxable EPZ status. That's the feedback we have gotten, but today acting Prime Minister John Saldivar told us that the project has Cabinet's support:…
Jules Vasquez
"Does government agree with the State Bank project?"
Hon. John Saldivar - Acting Prime Minister
"We certainly welcome the concept, we welcome the investors that are trying to put this project off the ground but as with everything else - they need to go by the rules and they have to do their EIA's and once they pass through the various processes - then it's a go."
Jules Vasquez
"But then Norwegian has a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Belize - they are working on a contract, which is going to the National Assembly. These State Bank developers do not have an MOU - do they have the sanction of the state? We understand that the Ministry of Trade is looking very critically at the investment and whether it will actually benefit Belize City - being that it's offshore, it's an export processing zone, they want duty free status."
Hon. John Saldivar
"As far as I'm aware - Cabinet is in support of the State Bank Project - not in it's entirety, there are aspects of it in which we have some problems - we have to look at the two causeways that they're looking to build. I believe Cabinet is comfortable with at least one of them - the one that connects to Belize City, but all of those things are up for discussion; I believe that the investor is currently in discussion with the technical people."
Those technical people are expected to meet tomorrow in Belmopan to start reviewing the project and assess its economic viability, and how it fits into the larger development picture.
And this afternoon, another of our news teams was in Placencia for an event where Manuel Heredia Jr., the Minister of Tourism, was the keynote speaker. Before the event started, we asked him about his ministry's current position on the Feinstein Group's Stake Bank Proposal. Here's what he told us:
Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. - Minister of Tourism
"Cabinet had given a green light to proceed with whatever they needed to do for both NCL and State Bank Project provided that they followed up with all the necessary things with the DOE, Forestry and whatever needs to be done and once it is done they have the green light from Cabinet and from our administration. It hasn't come back to Cabinet from the last time the subcommittee met with Mike Feinstein, so definitely I cannot speak about an MOU but I can guarantee that something has to be in black and white before anything proceeds. There has to be something in writing whereby it will protect the rights of the people that will be employed, who will be the key player over there, we have to make sure we take care of our small people - that they are the ones that will be getting most of the jobs. The technical people that will be coming have limited time so those jobs will be crossed over to our local people - that is the aim of this administration, that whatever happens in the Cruise Industry will have to be something that is in the interest of the smaller people."
And, one more addition to the story is that last night we reported that Trade CEO Mike Singh was opposed to the project – which we had heard from two sources. We could not ask Singh himself because he is on vacation. But he fired off a text to news director Jules Vasquez today refuting our story – saying that what we reported is, quote, "absolutely not the case.": he says the Stake Bank Project is still being evaluated and will continue to be evaluated in the next couple weeks.
