One more week - that's how long the UDP says it will wait for the BTB to come through with $374,000 in municipal assistance money. That's the message that will be contained in a letter from the Leader of the Opposition and the Mayor addressed to cruise tourism interests. The letter goes out tomorrow, and in it, the UDP leaders will make their case to shop-owners in the Fort Street Tourism Village and other stakeholders.
It's another small reversal for the UDP which had demanded the money immediately, but the party says that to exhaust every possibly option, it will wait another week. But according to Tourism Minister Godfrey Smith, they can wait all they want. He says the BTB has been removed from the picture, and it will not hand over the arrears or anything else without project plans which the UDP City Council has refused to furnish.
Smith says the council wants what he calls a new tax to be affixed on cruise visitors, and it must take that matter up with the Ministry of Finance. So, according to Smith the UDP could wait a week or more for BTB's money; he says, "it ain't gonna happen."
With that, the battle lines are drawn more sharply than ever b efore - and if the week passes without resolution or compromise - that would bring things to a head on about January 30th, when 5 ships are scheduled to be in port.
The Belize Chamber of Commerce today sent out a release urging dialogue. The release says that businesses are being affected by the continued deterioration of the city's infrastructure, and warns that any public confrontation on the streets will irreparably damage the cruise tourism industry.
