Today Cabinet was scheduled to discuss the Memorandum Of Understanding put forward by Norwegian Cruise Line. According to our sources Cabinet agreed to the broad terms of the agreement from last week, and then the draft MOU was sent to the Solicitor General for review. But, those sources say the MOU that has been sent to us is not the current draft, but an earlier, initial version. The revised draft, they say, has additional safeguards plus the option to increase fees at periodic reviews; it also specifies carrying capacity; and it limits the development concession to the construction of the project, not its operation.
As for the head tax – which sees 60% going to Norwegian, under the revised terms the company will still get four of every seven dollars paid per visitor but under the new deal, NICH and PACT would not have to pay a portion of their pennies into dubious funds
But what doesn't change is clause 21, that the Government is to quote, "process on an expedited basis, the Environmental Impact Assessment Amendment, all permits, licenses, concessions, agreements, exemptions etc, required by Port." Now, what this says is that no new EIA is to be done, that the Department of the Environment is to satisfy itself with a previous one which had been approved for a resort on the island. And that's why environment Minister Lisel Alamilla told the media on Friday that her ministry had not done a site visit and has only had minimal technical input.
We'll keep following the MOU as it gets ready for signing. Everyone in authority we've spoken to – including the Prime Minister - has directed us to Minister Godwin Hulse, but he has not responded to our requests for information.
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