Dangriga Town is gearing up to expand its boundaries up to the Commerce Bight Port, which could mean an influx of tourism for the town, especially since a new project, named the Southern Deep Port Development is proposing to invest 25 million US dollars to accommodate luxury cruise ships.
But Southern Deep Port Development is being led by the cousin of the Dangriga Area Rep, Basilio Zabaneh. We asked Dr Louis Zabaneh if this poses a conflict of interest.
Dr Louis Zabaneh, Area Rep, Dangriga
"For us here in Dangriga, that has already been aired out long ago. People already know that Mr Basilio Zabaneh who is putting up this proposal has been a very vibrant member of this community, is the largest employer as we speak, so we had this discussion on local media here in Dangriga with the Southern Workers Union and others who are fully supporting Mr Basilio who has been, as I said, a very major contributor to the development of Dangriga."
"The government has looked- there's a process, so people who have applied with interest, there's a process it goes first to the Belize Ports Authority then it goes to the minister and from there, it ends up going to the House of Representatives because I believe it's a project that's over two million dollars so these are the steps that we need to take that were not taken by the previous people who were there. So you have these various departments, entities, who will have to do their part."
Courtney Menzies:
"But doesn't the Norwegian Cruise Line have the monopoly on cruise ports here in the south?"
Dr Louis Zabaneh, Area Rep, Dangriga
"As far as we understand it, this project will be for small cruise ships which fall way below the number of persons per boat, so we're talking here about 100 to, say, 500 persons per boat so that's below the radar so to speak for the big guys. But very relevant for Dangriga, for our interest here in continuing to develop our tourism product. The people who come on small cruise ships usually spend 5,6 times more than those who come on the large ships, they stay longer, they're looking for quality service, things that are going to be meaningful for people who are offering those services to them."
Courtney Menzies:
"And do you think Dangriga can handle having a higher influx of tourists?"
Dr Louis Zabaneh, Area Rep, Dangriga
"Indeed, right now, sadly, we have barely any tourist at all, most of them go further south to Hopkins or to Placencia so this will be an opportunity now to bring tourism to Dangriga, to allow for Dangrigans to be the one to provide the services, to provide the food, to provide whatever types of arts, etc, that tourists usually buy when they're in a country. So we're very excited about that possibility."
According to the concept document Southern Deep Port Development is planning to rehabilitate the port to also accommodate live-aboard vessels, build an international marine terminal to host and process international vessels & develop a full-service marina with hospitality facilities.
