NEAC greenlights Port of Belize cruise port

By William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Apr. 9, 2026

   The Port of Belize Ltd.’s proposed $900 million Cargo Expansion and Cruise Port Development project for the Port Loyola area of Belize City has received a conditional clearance from a majority of the National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC), which reviewed the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted this year for the project, when they met last Thursday, April 2.

   The NEAC committee has suggested that the latest EIA was significantly different from previous EIA’s submitted by other developers. The NEAC thus recommended that the project be given the go ahead, subject to certain strict conditions which the developer must adhere to, so as to reduce the potential negative environmental and social impacts of the project.

   In response to this assessment, the Department of the Environment (DOE) has accepted the committee’s recommendations and has advised the developers of NEAC’s decision. The Department will now prepare an Environmental Compliance Plan for the developer to sign, committing the developer to mitigate all potential adverse environmental impacts which the project may cause. The DOE also recommended that a Joint Environmental Enforcement Taskforce should frequently and comprehensively monitor compliance with the DOE plan, especially during the construction phase.

    While reviewing the proposal for the project, the NEAC considered the potential negative impacts of dredging the access channel and the turning basin, and it noted that the developer would need to properly contain all suspended materials during the dredging process, and that the dredge spoils would need to be adequately dewatered, and the different grades of sediment dredged up would need to be properly classified for use.

   The committee also took into account that the construction and operation phases might also cause potential negative impacts on the sea, the land, and the air quality.

   The developer proposes to build a mangrove island to dispose of some of the dredge spoils, and the NEAC stipulated that this island should be built safely and with sound engineering and in a safe manner. The NEAC also recommended that the growth of the mangrove and littoral forest should be monitored over the long-term.

   The committee also recommended that the developer should be committed to elevating the well-being of the nearby community, by providing a grievance mechanism for residents to register complaints, as well as helping them to manage traffic, control and avoid flooding, creating jobs and encouraging entrepreneurship.

   The Government of Belize will now be inviting investors to come on board to invest in the cruise port development.

(AMANDALA Ed. Note: The DOE approval of the Cruise Port Development Project does seem to be a bit quick, after just one public consultation meeting. In its press release today, April 9, the Department of the Environment (DOE) said it had accepted the recommendations of the “National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC) [which] met on April 2” and advised that “environmental clearance be granted with strict conditions to reduce the potential negative environmental and some social impacts of the project.” A public consultation had been held on Wednesday evening, March 25 at the Best Western Biltmore Plaza Hotel in Belize City. However, in her April 6 expose, “The Port deal Belizeans never saw,” published at www.contestedports.com, activist and UEF spokesperson YaYa Marin Coleman, who had attended that “consultation,” instead demanded “a Public Hearing… giving Belizeans space to speak without the developer and their representatives present, because consultation in the presence of those selling a project is not the same as a community determining its future.” She continued, “The Port of Belize is not just infrastructure; it is contested territory, where questions of environmental survival, political transparency, racialized inequality, and democratic participation collide. Belize is not a blank space on the global map of port expansion conflicts. It is a frontline, and its people are demanding to be heard.” Amandala will share more from her article in our upcoming Tuesday online edition.)