Godfrey Smith: 'Forget About Carnival Cruise Project'

It was July 27 of 2005 when Tourism Minister Godfrey Smith
and Carnival Cruise Line's Vice-President Giora Israel sat
side by side at a late evening press conference to say that
the Carnival Cruise Terminal project would break ground in
August and be completed by summer of 2007. But it didn't
happen, and now the Minister says, it's not going to
happen. According to him, the Carnival deal has all but
slipped away.
The remarkable revelation comes in this week's Flashpoint
Column in the Belize Times in which Smith says the cruise
terminal is, "not working out as planned. The.partners are
in disagreement. The schism appears to be irreconcilable."
Smith concludes: "Carnival.is holding out on Belize."

And because of this holdout, Minister Smith, who positions
himself as not much more than a well-informed observer in
all this, argues that government should seek one last ditch
round of negotiations with Carnival to salvage the project.
And if that fails, he says the government should then
endorse and authorize the construction of the project for
Stake Bank Caye being developed by Mike Feinstein and
wholly backed by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

...Luke Espat Says "No So Fast'

SOURCE: www.7newsbelize.com