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But, bigger than the land issue is the question of a causeway. That's because since government is now fully behind the Stake Bank project - industry experts tell us that the only way to make it fully functional and profitable is to build a causeway to Belize City.
That's both very costly and very problematic because the Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary is nearby.
We asked Musa if government is contemplating it:
Jules Vasquez:
"Now has the government thought this through multiple steps ahead?"
"Because the problem with Stake Bank is that when you get to Stake Bank, who wants to be on an island, you want to visit Belize, and then you have to jump on another boat for a 3 or 4 mile boat ride. Has the government thought that step ahead? And is it also contemplating giving up some permission to build a causeway to Belize?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I know that the causeway was a part of the original Stake Bank plan."
"The causeway went to North Drowned Caye which Mike Feinstein owns."
"Yes, but there was also a contemplation of a further causeway to Belize City. And so future wise, I'm sure that that is the direction that the project will go."
"But I think for the time being, establishing it and opening it and operating it as a cruise port that has its own docking facilities is the priority at this moment."
Jules Vasquez:
"Out of all the chaos of the cruise ship industry."
"Everything we went through with Portico, etc.. Did you ever think that we would end up right back da Stake Bank with the state being the key actor in making it happen?"
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"Personally, I have to say that I've always been a proponent of Stake Bank, of the state Bank project. You can again check your records in the National Assembly when I was in opposition, supporting the state Bank project."
"And it has come a long way. It is further along at least five, by five years than any other, port that is being considered. And so it is still the front runner, even though it is caught up in all this litigation. I would say it's still a front runner. But at the end of the day, yes, I could see that Stake Bank would still be on the table."
More than just on the table, the Feinstein group says it's being sliced up. In a release yesterday, his company accuses the Honduran company of, quote, "deliberately inducing the receivership by withholding funding for the project resulting in delays and budget overruns to wrest control of Stake Bank from the hands of a Belizean."
