The public consultation portion of Waterloo's latest Environmental Impact Assessment commences tonight at 6:30 and, it could be fiery as there has been a concerted effort by vested interests to mobilize community opposition to the project. One group reports that over twenty thousand persons have signed a petition objecting to the Port and the damage they say it could cause to the reef.
As we've reported, the Ashcroft - allied Waterloo Investment Holdings, wants to upgrade the Port of Belize Limited to accommodate cruise tourism along with an upgrade of the Port's bulk cargo facility.
But should the Waterloo Port Expansion Project even be considered? Especially since not only has the EIA been rejected before, but also because a national port policy has still not been finalized?
Today - hours before the consultation - we asked the acting prime minister, Cordel Hyde for his thoughts on the matter.
Cordel Hyde, Acting Prime Minister
"As I've probably said before, that is something that government will have to grapple with. That is a discussion, a serious discussion, that government will have to have going forward. As it is right now, you have that this evening, you know if it was up to me, that wouldn't be the case."
Reporter
"You're acting PM though; you actually have the power and authority to have stopped that process."
Cordel Hyde, Acting Prime Minister
Yeah but you're assuming that, right. We live in a democracy and we live in a country of laws and ultimately as the acting prime minister, I'm not a unilateral operator. Ultimately at the end of the day, this process has started, it is at this point, the Belizean people, I am very confident, are going to make their vices known, are going to make their concerns known this evening and it should be an interesting meeting, an interesting consultation."
Our Daniel Ortiz is at that consultation and you'll hear more about it in tomorrow's newscast.
