Placencia has achieved the remarkable feat of a smooth transition from an isolated fishing community to a significant feature on the international tourist trail in a matter of decades.  Yet it hasn’t lost its roots: rather it has become somewhat of the Playa del Carmen of Belize – one step down from the main tourist ‘trap’ (San Pedro in Belize, and Cancun in Mexico).  It hasn’t, then, marketed itself beyond all recognition, nor ‘sold’ itself.  Until now!

            It appears that the current Department of Environment has phenomenal money-making plans for our unique peninsula, and is proceeding full-steam ahead in a bid to develop the area beyond all recognition, and to reap the personal rewards that will no doubt come with this transition.

To list all the developments currently in progress which have received planning permission since the change of government in 2008 would just about fill this entire edition of the Belize Times.  But a few of the most controversial include the creation of ‘Placencia North International Airport’, a vast development under the auspice of ‘The Placencia Hotel and Residencies’ and ‘The Placencia Resort’; this is all without mention of plans for the Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course occupying almost 50 acres on the delicate landward side of the peninsula, the entire transformation of nearby Rendezvous Caye,  the building approval for a resort on Harvest Caye with yet another airstrip, and the potential approval of ‘Placencia Marina’.

            News has barely seeped out into Belizean mainstream conversation that we are soon to host another International Airport, second to the Philip W. Goldson International Airport in Ladyville.  Nor has the general public appreciated the implications of the ‘Placencia Marina’, which is aimed to accommodate up to 210 vessels, from 30-foot skiffs to200-foot yachts, despite the fact that just 1.5 miles further north, Ara Macao already has valid planning permission for a 400 berth marina, granted in January 2007.  And that is just to touch the tip of the iceberg: approval for thousands of hotel rooms has been granted, located on just about every available space on both sides of the Peninsula, all of which are contracted to Marco Caruso (he is certainly a lucky man to have so many construction contracts fall into his lap, but that is another story altogether).  There are also legitimate rumours of a casino, of which the Department of Environment claims to know nothing about, despite its construction already being nearly entirely completed and despite confirmation from potential Canadian investors that the Casino site is specifically identified during investment pitches.  And time shares (fractional interests) and individual lots are being sold to non-Belizeans through a potentially dubious ‘wealth-enhancement’ investment club which will surely only perpetuate current levels of scams and corruption.  It seems there is not a pocket of the old ‘Placencia’ that will be left untouched.

            Residents can no longer keep their concern to themselves, as it becomes ever more apparent that some form of corruption probably lies at the heart of the matter.  The Placencia Peninsula is, by definition, a delicate environmental area because of its precarious, low-lying position bordered to the West by the lagoon, and to the East by the sea.  Thus every planning application should be carefully considered for its potential implications on the local environment, from soil dredging, to depleting water reserves for non-natural purposes, to the sheer impact of creating such a vast tourist destination within an environmentally vulnerable area.  With utilities (including electricity, water and sewage disposal) already stretched to capacity in the area, it seems negligent that no comprehensive report has been undertaken to measure the deficit between available supply and potential demand.  This is without considering the Peninsula as a biological haven in itself, which should be protected for providing unique habitats for hundreds of species of flora and fauna.

            The bleak reality, however, is that the official body designed to protect the environment is in fact more than dubious itself.  The National Environment Advisory Committee (NEAC) is legally charged with approving or denying planning permission on the grounds of individual environmental reviews.  This surely constitutes a Public Committee then – one designed for the betterment and sustainable development of our country.  Yet a Department of Environment representative, Mr Anthony Mai, actually confirmed that the membership of the NEAC is not revealed to the public, and nor are its meeting minutes released for public review.

            The active community group, Placencia Citizens for Sustainable Development (PCSD), issued a press release shortly after Mr. Mai’s announcement in June, questioning the suspicious secrecy surrounding the committee, although no response has ever been given.  Perhaps even worse is that at the public meeting on the Peninsula, members of the community were asked to present their names and addresses in front of video cameras before they were able to make a comment to the committee – if this isn’t a bullying tactic for silencing petitioners then surely we at least deserve the real explanation for this apparent ‘scare’ procedure?

            Even for a government that has a history of caucus decision making, despite an abundance of ‘transparent’ rhetoric, the secretive tactics and performance practices of the NEAC seem unjustifiably ludicrous.  Unless, of course, selling the Placencia Peninsula is benefitting the pockets of our public officials.  Which is really the only logical conclusion to be drawn until the Department of Environment, and its affiliated National Environment Advisory Committee, breaks its silence.  It seems the time has come wen Belizean citizens want answers as to the whole’sale’ development of our country. 

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