Minister of Tourism, Manuel Heredia, as well as Minister of Economic Development, Erwin Contreras were photographed at the Cannes Film Festival in France last week. They are now back in the country after attending an exclusive party hosted by Italian investors of the Puerto Azul group. Along with the ministers, was Belize’s ambassador to Italy, Nunzio Alfred D’Angieri. From all accounts, they were wined and dined by the developers and put up at the glitzy Hotel InterContinental Carlton Cannes where the prices for the rooms are anywhere between a thousand to three thousand dollars.
The Italian singer-songwriter Andrea Bocelli entertained the guests. Now, Bocelli normally charges anywhere from a hundred thousand to a million Euros; that’s in the region of three hundred thousand dollars to three million dollars. According to reports in the international media, John Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, were flown in to Cannes as hosts of the pricey party to launch the Puerto Azul project. When the pictures of the smiling ministers appeared on social media, the immediate questions were who paid for the trip and why.
Well there is information that Cabinet has already given its nod to the project and the attendance of the two key ministers, Heredia and Contreras, at the invitation of Puerto Azul would signal support for the project. In fact, there is also word that the terms of reference of the project is before the Department of Environment. When the project came to light last year, environmentalists objected, but it was overshadowed by the Norwegian Cruise Line Harvest Caye Project as well as the Stake Bank project. Puerto Azul is a massive and exclusive resort complete with airstrip, villas and golf course on the Northern Two Cayes and Sandbore Caye. The plan also features shopping centers, restaurants and living quarters for employees. The coordinator of Healthy Reef, Roberto Pott, is among those who have serious concerns that the installations would have a negative impact on the ecosystems particularly because it is dangerously close to the Belize Barrier Reed Reserve System.
Roberto Pott, Belize Coordinator, Healthy Reefs
“We have seen unofficial plans for development for that area and the last plans we saw was essentially going to shred Northern Two Caye and that is one of only two cayes that have mangroves on Lighthouse Reef. I am not sure if those plans have been updated or amended to be more sensitive to how fragile that ecosystem is. The plans call for several hundred boats out there, I think, and I could see obvious conflict being created because you have a large stakeholder group that comes out of San Pedro that uses the Blue Hole and they’ve been very good at having a small ecological footprint when they go into the Blue Hole and visit Halfmoon Caye. There are a lot of fishers who frequent that government especially for the conc. So I am trying to wrap my head around how this development will fit into the exiting uses. One of the things that is critical to any ecosystem is mangrove. I mean it is even in the best interest for landowners. We found that parrot fish and other herbivorous fish depend on that mangrove as their nursery and you only have two of those out at Lighthouse Reef. You lose one; you are going to have a heavy impact on the ecosystem out at Lighthouse Reef. And so trying to see how you can fit a mega development into a very small area is hard to conceive. I think the last plans that we saw even had an airstrip out at the reef.
"It is just something that the reef cannot sustain; you don’t put an airstrip on your reef. I’m very concerned that this is moving ahead without having seen what would be a project that will be compatible with the area that we consider so pristine. It is a world heritage site; Half Moon Caye and Blue Hole. I’m still hopeful that there are stakeholders out at Lighthouse Reef that once this information gets out will start speaking to their representatives because there are a lot of people that will be affected by this development if it proceeds. And even looking at the social side, because it is not just about protecting fish and mangroves, we’ve seen in other places, in the Rivera Maya, where you have these big developments and it is not the locals who get the jobs. There is a huge trend of influx, of migrants, coming to the coast to get jobs. And the people along the coast first have lost their land and in essence we will be losing access to Northern Two Caye.”
Minister Godwin Hulse, the Head of the Cabinet Subcommittee on Investment, has told the media that at this stage, the representatives of the company are only studying the Northern 2 Caye to see if the proposed development is even possible.
Hulse chairs the Cabinet Subcommittee but two of its members Tourism Minister Herredia and Investment Minister Contreras have travelled to Cannes, presumably on the tab of the would be investors for the launch party – which clearly suggests that they support the project.