The press also asked the PM about the decision from the Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Stake Bank Enterprises Limited.
They were insisting to the court that the National National Environmental Appraisal Committee and the Department of Environment made a bad decision. They questioned the NEAC's environmental approval for the Port of Magical Belize to proceed to the next phase of development in their proposed mega cruise port.
But, 2 weeks ago, Justice Lisa Shoman agreed with the Government's attorney, Assistant Sol Gen Samantha Matute-Tucker, that the claimant's case should be struck out. That's because they failed to file their case and supporting documents within the necessary deadline.
Here's what the PM said when that topic was brought up:
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"The whole thing with the case is just to be able to ensure that government has the opportunity should there be another group that wants to put up another port that they would have the ability to do so. The reality is that Belize can only have so many ports, 2 at most, and we s a government could issue 5, 6, a dozen permissions to build a port but the private sector will not put their money in there if they know they're not going to make any money so we have always remained that open, saying that there's the possibilities of three different groups wanting to set up a post in the Belize District and our position has always been you go through the process, if you get your EIA approved then you apply, that's fine by us, but it's the funders. We're talking 100, 200 million dollars plus and the investors are not going to put money in a port that they know is going to lose money."
