On Friday, we told you about the Stake Bank Project - that developer Mike Feinstein was giving up on - after it became clear in a meeting with the Prime Minister that government would not give him the kind of assurances that he needed to attract finance and move forward. Well, today government disclosed that what Feinstein wants is exclusivity - and it's not going to give that. A cabinet release which is about as common as a hurricane in January - was issued today sating plainly, quote, "Cabinet cannot entertain Mr. Feinstein's request for exclusivity. Mr. Feinstein has stated that if he cannot be granted exclusivity, he may have to withdraw the project."
It adds, quote, "Cabinet…is reviewing numerous studies that have been done over the past two decades which identifies the Port of Belize as a viable facility. The government has recently received expressions of interest to develop the Port of Belize from two companies so far. One is the company that currently controls the receivership, Ports Investment Limited, and Hertzog International Incorporated." End quote. We note that Ports Investment Limited is the Ashcroft Alliance.
At a function this evening, we asked the Prime Minister about it:...
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
"I made it plain to Mr. Feinstein that we are perfectly happy to green light his project and to bring the law that we had passed into effect. But he says that that's not enough. That we must give him a 25 years exclusive arrangement. Government is not prepared to do that for all sorts of reasons including a fact that he just won 6 months or so ago, a ruling from the Supreme Court saying that exclusivity is illegal and cannot stand. I failed to see how he can then come back to us and say give me an exclusive. So, that's where that is. We know that Luke Espat and Carnival were going to build at Port Loyola and Carnival had done it studies and knew that Port Loyola option was feasible. Mr. Feinstein tell me that was then and now because the ships have grown bigger, he is positive that Port Loyola is not an option. Well, we need to hear that from the experts that are going to be retained by those that have an interest in Port Loyola. So for us its wait and see."
Government's release today underscores that the Supreme Court recently ruled that exclusivity in the Fort Street Tourism Village agreement were unlawful.
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