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Turning now to the ongoing speculation surrounding the Portico project - one thing that's been much in the news, and the ads - recently - is the question of whether Deputy Prime Minister Cordel Hyde will give Portico the required permits for the use of the seabed to create land on which they will build an artificial peninsula and a retreat island. It's a central part of the project - but from the early stages when NEAC was first considering the project - the question of whether Natural Resources would accommodate with the required permits has been unclear. That's why today in Armenia village - we tried to get a definitive answer from the Minister of Natural Resources. He said, "we're not there yet":
Cordel Hydel, Minister of Natural Resources
"We're not there yet. I mean we haven't received an application that explains in detail what's the proposed expansion so we can't really make a determination or a decision until we have a product for deliberation and we haven't received that. We keep hearing a lot of things, I'm sure we'll get an application and when that time comes, we will look at it very critically. As you know the big challenge in this day and age is how do you balance development with the conservation and preservation of our God given natural beauty. That's the big challenge, it's called sustainable development and it's oftentimes an elusive concept, but once they put in an application then we'll have our technical people and experts weigh in to give us the best advice possible."
Reporter:
"When we asked the prime minister about the seabed issue he said it's likely because the fact is that we need ports in the Belize District. So how is it that you continue to maintain that relationship with Portico after everything that has been done?"
Cordel Hydel, Minister of Natural Resources
"I don't know that we're maintaining a relationship with them, I don't know that we really had a relationship with them. i think ultimately, this is a big project, it's more than just Portico, there are international players here, big international players, big money talking, lots of fanciful talk. I've always treated it like some pie in the sky kind of thing because for the longest I didn't see how it would reach any kind of fruition or completion so it's not just Portico, it's other players and we have a responsibility, we had a responsibility back then to look at it at the Cabinet level to determine how exactly we will proceed if we will proceed at all. We sent a couple of our colleagues on an errand to try and ensure that we get the best possible product that will be acceptable to Belizeans moving forward. It may be that we're not able to settle on time. It may be that whatever we come up with, whatever we think at Cabinet is acceptable to the Belizean people, it may not be and if it's not, then it's not our job to ram things down the throat of the Belizean people."
