DOE: Causeway Was Approved

Martin Alegria

Environmental clearance is one of the first steps that must be done for any proposed development in Belize. The National Environmental Appraisal Committee is responsible for giving that green light. This then allows for requisite permits, approvals and licenses to be issued. Today, Chief Environmental Officer Martin Alegria held a virtual press conference in wake of pushback from the environmental community over concerns about a causeway that was approved for the multimillion-dollar Stake Bank cruise port development just off the coast of Belize City. But as we found out from Alegria today, the Environmental Compliance Plan was approved years ago and remains effective.

Martin Alegria, Chief Environmental Officer

“It’s in the Department of Environment’s files. To begin with, this is the 2019 – if you can see here. This is the environmental clearance, the letter which usually accompanies the actual environmental compliance plan which is usually signed at the end of the day by the investors. The ECPs are usually here at the Department of the Environment within each project file. What I could tell you is that the procedure has always been; the ECPs are usually signed by the Chief Environmental Officer, whoever he or she is at the Department of Environment – that’s as per the EPA and the EIA regs. I sign all ECPs; many of them during the course of a year. So it is signed based on the NEAC’s recommendation and any other input that would come from the general public such as when public consultations are held or other issues of, for example, of specific interest from an agency that is discussed at the NEAC [level] and are put into the ECP.”