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Marty Offline OP
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Coco Beach Resort is one of north San Pedro’s largest resorts but today the Department of Environment shut down construction and operations at the mega resort. In a 12 point letter dated today, Chief Environmental Officer Martin Allegria ordered the developer to “cease all operation and construction activities associated with Coco Beach Resort.”

7News understands that the problem with Coco Beach resort is one of non-compliance. There are six projects under development and while environmental compliance plans have been discussed for four – none of them have been signed by Coco Beach. That according to our information is what prompted the DOE to move on Coco Beach.

News from San Pedro is that since there are guests at the Coco Beach, operations have been allowed to continue but again construction has been shut down. A meeting is planned for tomorrow between the developers and the Department of Environment – during which an ECP for one of the projects will be signed.

The Coco Beach Resort has told our colleagues at The San Pedro Sun that they had submitted the necessary paperwork.

Channel 7

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What happen did someone forget,the hand shake under the table full of blues .This I never heard of .the hand shake is just a way of the world ..And here it is means everything AT LEAST THAT S WHAT I BEEN TOLD????????AM I WRONG???

Last edited by captjeff; 02/03/10 11:56 AM.

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Hi Jeff ---- Thankfully you are wrong, and that is a good thing.

Asking for what you deserve under the law and complying with the DoE plan is not so hard and works without bribes.




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THATS SOUNDS GOOD TO ME AND SHOULD BE THE WAY IT IS .SOMETIMES I FEEL NOT ALWAYS THE CASE HERE ...A SHAME ..


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Originally Posted by captjeff
SOMETIMES I FEEL NOT ALWAYS THE CASE HERE ...A SHAME ..


I don't think it's any worse here than anywhere else - just more easily spotted.

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I could tell you of several cases of severe maladministration in England in planning, where either bribes were involved or favours were done for family members and friends. I know of one case where action was taken by a deeply disadvantaged person, maladministration was proven and recognised by the Court, but no compensation resulted. It isn't just here that these things happen, not that that in any way excuses them.

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Tourism Minister Surprised by Coco Beach Resort Stop Order

Wednesday night we broke the news about the stop order the Department of Environment issued to the plush Coco Beach Resort to cease and desist all operations and construction on its 6 projects in north San Pedro. It was issued as a result of non compliance by the resort’s developers. There was no Environmental Compliance Plan for any of the resort’s six projects and so the DOE made the decision to move on Coco Beach. But today the Minister of Tourism and Area Representative Manuel Heredia Jr. told us that it was a bad decision to shut down construction and operations at the mega resort. He says that yes – Coco Beach isn’t in compliance – but it could have been handled differently.

Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr., Minister of Tourism
“I was taken by surprise when I heard that a stop order was issued not only to Coco Beach but to four or five other places. But I will tell you truthfully that immediately when I spoke to Mr. Allegria, he agreed that the best thing is to meet with these and have everything addressed and move forward. So definitely if anything was closed, it was probably about an hour or hour and a half before Mr. Allegria got in touch with his people and this morning they were back to work as normal.”

Keith Swift,
“Who made the decision of the DOE?”

Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr.,
“Well the way I understand it, it was really the Chief Environmental Officer who is Mr. Allegria. He is the one that gave the directive and then I am sure that other Ministers called on that because to me the construction part is not that difficult but to cease all operations, even of the resorts, that part is terrible because that will really send a wrong message.”

Keith Swift,
“So was it a mistake to issue that stop order?”

Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr.,
“Well I think it was a mistake or an oversight. I must agree to that but as humans all of us do our little mistakes here and there but the important thing is that we have agreed to meet tonight and to resolve the issue.”

Chief Environmental Officer Martin Allegria along with representatives from Coco Beach and Minister Heredia are meeting tonight at his office in San Pedro.

Channel 7


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What are the other places also shut down? The article refers to 5 or 6 projects on N AC.

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I think they are refering to each unit as a project at Coco.


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DOE descends on Coco Beach Resort and halts construction






Coco Beach Resort; it's one of Ambergris Caye top resorts situated north of the island. It's a resort that upon completion will consist of 25 two bedroom units, five single level casitas, 20 one bedroom units, 12 hotel rooms, a store room, restaurant and a large swimming pool. All in all, it's a large resort still conducting on-site construction, but work forcefully came to a stop this week. On Tuesday, construction on the two remaining buildings came to a halt after Department of Environment (DOE) personnel escorted by Police, descended on the premises to shut down construction and operations of the resort.

    DOE in the Legal Authority Action Letter, stated that Coco Beach has embarked on the construction of the resort "without first obtaining Environmental Clearance prior to commencement of activity." The letter continues to state that construction violates the Environmental Protection Act Chapter 328 of the Laws of Belize and the Amended Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation SI 24 of 2007. In an enforcement notice and cessation order, DOE outlined 12 reasons as to why Chief Environmental Officer Martin Alegria ordered the developer to "cease all operation and construction activities associated with Coco Beach Resort." Reasons stipulated date back as far May 3rd, 2007. On that date, DOE first visited the site for inspection and found that Coco Beach had already commenced construction on five buildings prior to having received the green light from the Government department. Despite several notices given to Coco Beach, and listed in the Legal Authority Action Letter, they continued with construction until Tuesday, when DOE decided to come down on Coco Beach with the full force of the law. DOE ended by pointing out that despite going on with construction, Coco Beach Resort has yet to sign an Environmental Compliance Plan (ECP) for the construction and operation of the development.

    In speaking to a representative of Coco Beach Resort, The San Pedro Sun was informed that Coco Beach does recognize their fault in having carried on with their constructions without first receiving the approval of DOE. Coco Beach's representative however explained that DOE had been "dragging their feet," in approving a project that had been submitted and was in the pipeline since 2004. In addition, Coco Beach also pointed out that on several occasions they have responded and submitted all the necessary documentation requested by DOE to the point of traveling to Belmopan's headquarters to hand deliver them on several occasions. They do admit to not signing their Environmental Compliance Plan, which is still in a draft stage, until a proper assessment of the fine is carried out. According to the representative, DOE had been demanding payment of a $10,000 yearly fee as based on the draft.

    Over 100 people depend on the jobs generated by the construction at Coco Beach Resort. The San Pedro Sun learnt that when work came to a stop on Tuesday, Area Representative Honorable Manuel Heredia Jr. spoke to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment to allow construction to continue. According to Coco Beach, they were given the green light to resume construction on Wednesday once Prime Minister Honorable Dean Barrow intervened.

    All attempts to speak to Chief Environmental Officer Martin Alegria and Prime Minister Dean Barrow were unsuccessful. As we go to press, representatives of DOE and Coco Beach Resort were meeting in San Pedro to finalize the signing of the ECP that will legally give the resort the go ahead to continue with construction.

San Pedro Sun



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