And, switching gears now, we go back to Friday afternoon's opening of the Commerce Bight Port.
It's being designed to attract luxury yachts and small cruise ships known as pocket cruises.
But how feasible is it really? Jules Vasquez took a deeper look:
The coastline, a pine ridge forest and the Maya Mountains as a backdrop - there are few places as picturesque as Commerce Bight, about a mile and a half south of Dangriga.
But it also has the deepest waters of any port in Belize.
Emilio Basillio Zabaneh, Developer
"Many Belizeans are unaware that Commerce Byte is the only naturally occurring deep water port in Belize."
And that's why Tourism Investor Basilio Zabaneh is spearheading a 50 million Belize dollar pocket tourism and luxury yacht project.
Ground was broken on Friday with the Area rep, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Tourism there.
The project to transform this battered old pier and the surrounding area will be in three phases:
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Dangriga Area Rep
"Where the actual structure is right now, that will just be slightly modified to received international small yachts, those then will also benefit from the services of the Marina itself, from what is here now, at the head of this pier, which is 535ft out, a depth of 20ft. can accommodate easily these smaller vessels that might require only ten, 15ft. There will be floating docks, as I've been informed, another 500ft out. That takes you to depths of about 35 feet. That's where the small luxury boats or small cruise ships would be docking."
But to do this, Southern Deep Port Development Ltd will have to find 50 million dollars.
Jules Vasquez
"Okay. So are you are you confident here today that it will be. It will. It is something that will be able to find financing to reach completion."
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"Yeah. As you know, and you're well read and in tune, that $50 million is a pittance for these types of projects these days. And it's, a lot of money is out there. And we believe that I think, Belize is a hot destination. And there are investors out there who would want to invest their money into Belize."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"So to get the ships here would not be difficult. I think the difficult thing is the actual investment. I'm told it's going to be around 50 million dollars to be able to uplift it."
And a big part of stoking that investor confidence is contained in this document - the parliament approved public private partnership contract. - which makes government more than a vested interest, they're actually shareholders:
Jules Vasquez
"I saw the PPP agreement that you all drafted for him, the concessions are very lavish. How do you justify those?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"But it is nothing different than what other previous governments have done. Actually, we cut it down, and that is why it was sent back, at least 2 or 3 times in Cabinet, because we felt it was way too much."
Included in that agreement is the commitment that government had to take it to the house:
Jules Vasquez
"You will be criticized because they will say, well, this is a Zabaneh project and this is a related party legislation, not transaction, legislation, because, it was pushed by you, enabled by you."
"And it will serve to enrich and enhance the investment profile of your first cousins, your relatives, they say your father is involved as well. How do you respond to that?"
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Dangriga Area Rep
"No, no. Well, well, not one with my father is involved, that's not true. But, no, I'm willing to take that criticism because the benefits are so tremendous to the residents of the community, right?"
"Yes, Basilio is my first cousin. But you, ask anybody in the community there, is high respect for Mr. Basilio. he has been assisting the community. He's the largest employer here in Dangriga. over 300 persons that he employs in his four resorts."
"And so, I am happy to be associated with anything that Basilio does."
"So I don't have any problem taking on that criticism because the benefits are so much greater that I think that will just evaporate."
And the primary benefit here is job creation - which Zabaneh is banking on:
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Dangriga Area Rep
"Where we could see, employment, where we could see foreign exchange earnings, positively impacting our people. So, this is something that the constituents had demanded of me from the very beginning."
Emilio Basillio Zabaneh, Developer
"The re-opening of this port under Southern Deep Port Development Limited will see significant employment. We plan for over a hundred employees in the three year construction period and over 60 full time employees thereafter, impacting the wellbeing of the Dangriga and surrounding communities."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"And the expectation is that then to the whole road, the Commerce Byte road or the jetty road or whatever you want to call it, that all of that land could also be developed into, restaurants, artisan shops and just areas of culture and hotels."
Jules Vasquez
"Your good friend Michael Finnegan would say he see Belize broke up bigger circus than this."
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"That, that may be so but, but we can't be, we have to live with a sense of optimism."
"But you have to live with a sense of of optimism. The media's job is to be skeptical and to ask the tough questions, and I understand that. But we have to be optimistic. We can't start something by saying it's going to fail. We have to go in with our minds that it can succeed."
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
"Those that we're trying to attract here. the boutique lines, and mega yachts, if you want to call them. About six months ago, we brought, a group of experts from the Bahamas who had experience in building marinas, just to look at the entire country. And they signaled to us that Commerce Bight reminded them of, Albany. That's in the Bahamas. And it has great, great potential, and we shouldn't let it waste."
In three years - which is the slated timeline for completion - we'll know if that Commerce Bight - a. Place of historical significance - can live up to the promise of its future.
A footnote on its history, the Commerce Bight port was established in 1908 to support the then thriving industries of agriculture and timber, and, later on, citrus.
Project developers hope to have the Port ready to accommodate luxury yachts in a year.
