Last night, we showed you what David Gegg, the founding director of Portico Enterprises Limited, had to say about the possible environmental impacts that his proposed Port of Magical Belize can have on the location where he and his partners want to build it.
As you probably know by now, the Port of Magical Belize is mega cruise development proposed by Gegg and his local and international business partners that is currently estimated at 224 million US dollars.
But, to make this port a reality, Portico Enterprises says that they would have to conduct extensive dredging and create an artificial peninsula at their facility, which is planned to be built some 6 kilometers south of the Sibun River in the Belize District.
Yesterday, the Opposition United Democratic Party called the project "an environmental disaster", and noted that for several reasons, the environmental concerns caused them to refuse to grant environmental clearance to the developer for this project. They have criticized the Briceno administration for "prematurely" approving Magical Belize's Environmental Compliance Plan, which they think should be rescinded.
But developer David Gegg thinks that Port of Magical Belize can actually boost the economic performance of the tourism industry.
Here's how he explained the benefits to us in our interview last week:
David Gegg - Founding Director, Portico Enterprises Limited
"I think it will make it possible for the larger ships of today, and certainly the ones of tomorrow, to be able to come to Belize, which they will not now do because the new ships, the bigger ships, are 6,500 passengers. They have said to us that there is no way they will consider attempting to tender a ship of that size because you simply can't get that many people off in the course of the day. So, we will be able to accommodate the needs of the industry, as the industry evolves from where it was 25 years ago when it first came to Belize, to where it is now, and where there will probably be 10-15 years from now. And we think we'll be able to grow the traffic into Belize significantly."
Reporter
"Are you referring to the shift to oasis class vessels, sir?"
David Gegg
"It's not just oasis, you know. Oasis is the Royal Caribbean class of large ships. Carnival has its own class, I think it's called the XL class, and many of their brands, not just the Carnival brand, are using that model of ship. MSC has gone to a very large ship as well that's called 'World Class', and you have many other cruise lines that seem to be heading in that direction. And, you know, whether its the new ships of today 6,500 people, or the older ones of 10 years ago that has 2,000-3,000 people, they much prefer the ability to dock at a port, instead of tendering people ashore."
"This model, this location, is designed to accommodate the existing stakeholders. The road that will access the site will be about 10 miles from Belize City. It's 6.5 miles from the George Price Highway, at about the mile 6 or 5 juncture. We put the road there so that the existing stakeholders would have fast and easy access to the site, to be able to go there just as they presently go to Fort Street Tourism Village. It's geared for the present Belize Stakeholders."
We also asked him about the rival cruise ports that also want to shape the country's cruise tourism future. The Feinstein Group's Port Coral Project has also gotten environmental clearance, and they've already progressed to the construction phase. Then, there's the proposal from the Ashcroft Alliance's Waterloo company at the Port of Belize, which is still being reviewed by the environmental authorities.
Predictably, pitchman Gegg told us that his project has one major advantage over those other 2 projects:
David Gegg - Founding Director, Portico Enterprises Limited
"There are 3 things that make our project much more viable than the other 2. It's location, location, and location."
Reporter
"Care to elaborate?"
David Gegg
"I don't need to. I mean, you know, navigation to our facility is safer, easier, is shorter. We don't have to tender people ashore because the buses will be parked very near to where the ships dock. Passengers will be able to walk from the ship directly onto the bus and whisked off to a Mayan site, and some other attraction. It's a pristine setting that safe, secure, and scenic, and in this day and age, the cruise lines are looking for settings that are safe, secure, and scenic and not ones that are flanked by commercial trimmings, whether it's the tank farm of the Puma people, thousands of containers in the Port compound, or the regrettably, the sewer treatment lagoon of Belize City. You go to Port of Belize, that's what you'll see from the top deck of the ship, and I think it would be a travesty of economic opportunity if cruise ships were to go there. I think it would be very sad for Belize if that were to happen."
"I wish the others well. I don't see Stakebank as competition. I wish Mr. Feinstein well. I think it would be a travesty, as I've said if cruise ships were to be allowed to go into the setting that is the Port of Belize. But, if that's what it is, then that's what it's to be. Undoubtedly, we have the best location."
If you would like to read about this project in granular detail, you can find all the environmental studies on it on the Department of the Environment website.
