Sixty Million Dollar Investment at Commerce Bight Port

A group of investors is interested in constructing a sixty-million-dollar facility at the Commerce Bight Port. Today, Michel Chebat, the Minister responsible for Ports, introduced a bill for certain exemptions on taxes and duties for the Southern Deep Port Development Limited, the company that will be undertaking the project. Today reporters asked the prime minister about the project and the players involved. Here is what he told us.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“What is more important, why is we want to try to develop the commerce bight port? The Commerce Bight Port was closed around 2004 and every time when election time comes, we have been promising the people of Dangriga that we will do everything possible to open the port. A number of people have come, even the U.D.P. has had a number of people that are just fly by night people trying to get their hands on that port with no plan. Now we have a group of people, investors, and I can name one in particular Basilio Zabaneh who is one of the largest Belizean investors in the tourist industry. Nobody can question his legitimacy and what he has done for the tourist industry. They have put together a plan where they want to convert the commerce bight into a small cruise port. Apparently, there are these cruise ports for high end tourist for about four hundred, six hundred people. So he wants to convert that to a port where these cruise ship can come there and offload the passengers and the passengers can have a look at especially we are saying that Dangriga is the culture capital lets put that to work, the artisans, the food, the crafts men and also to visit the different areas in the District. Stann Creek is one of the most beautiful districts we have. We have sea, low lying coast and mountains. So we have everything within that area. So, they have put together a group and I am told that the investment is going to be around sixty million dollars.”