You've heard what Mike Peyrefitte and Tracy Taegar Panton have had to say about the Definitive Agreement held by the Port of Magical Belize. They have told 7News it never went through the required process. But, still, it was signed by former Minister of Economic Development, Erwin Contreras and it does exist.
Weighing in to the dispute now is Stake Bank Enterprises Limited, the parent company for the Port Coral Development.
A lengthy release says Port Coral is the only licensed cruise port in Belize and they claim to be, quote, "appalled by the recent disclosure of the existence of a Definitive Agreement issued to the Port of Magical Belize by a former UDP Minister." End quote. They claim that, quote, "Portico Enterprise Limited has circumvented all the due process to obtain a Definitive Agreement by partnering with a Minister who was not even a member of the Cabinet Sub Committee on Investment, AND WITHOUT ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE." End quote. They say this is an inequity as all other similar projects had to follow the, quote, "long, winding and hostile road of due process to eventually get an approved Definitive Agreement."
Stake Bank says it has "over 12 million US invested in the Port Coral project..."and say they teamed up with the domestic banks and took on the challenge to secure the cruise industry by building a docking port, when no other developer stepped up. They add that Stake Bank SBEL and its financiers "(have) a legitimate expectation to expect the Government of Belize to protect its huge investment since it's GOB that had passed the Stake Bank Docking Facility Act in 2014, which had bi-partisan support in Parliament.
They call on Government of Belize to approve the Port Policy final draft submitted by the Belize Port Authority to Cabinet three weeks ago which, quote, "makes it clear that only one (1) cruise port and one (1) cargo port can exist for the Belize District at this time."
