Environmental Threats
and Challenges

Construction of the Placencia North Airport, located on the northern end of the Placencia Peninsula, commenced before the developer applied for any environmental approvals.

The Belize Department of the Environment issued a stop work order, but not long thereafter entered into an Environmental Compliance Plan dated 7 May 2009 approving the airport construction. 

The airport developer is M.E.L. Investments, Limited.  The ECP was signed by Marco Caruso as Director of MEL.  Mr. Caruso also has interests in Copal Beach, The Placencia Hotel and Residences and Rendezvous Caye. 

As with Copal Beach and Rendezvous Caye, DOE did not require MEL to submit and environmental impact assessment for the proposed airport.  In addition, the developer was careful to apply for approval for a runway of only 5,000 feet in length, just below the length for which an EIA is mandatory (6,561.68 feet - 2,000 meters).

However, marketing materials from Canyon Canada, the primary investor in Copal Beach, Rendezvous Caye and the proposed Placencia Marina, stated that approval for an extended runway would be requested as soon as the initial 5000 foot runway was completed.

According to government sources, the runway is now over 8,200 feet.  DOE will not respond to requests about under whose authority the runway length was increased.  In addition, the Environmental Compliance Plan requires the runway to be constructed of asphalt, but the runway is now being constructed of concrete. 

Locally, the airport is referred to an an international airport - even by the Prime Minister of Belize, and Mr. Caruso says that the international airport is needed to bring in charter groups from Europe.  (The official Belize International Airport, Goldson International (BZE), has been unable to attract European charters even after trying for 10 years.)

Canyon Canada marketing materials provide a different reason for an international airport - they need one to be able to sponsor PGA golf tournaments, at Panther, the Trent Jones designed 18-hole golf course they tell investors they are developing across the Placencia Lagoon from the airport -- a golf course development that will include condominiums, hotels and a residential subdivision.

According to DOE, approval was given for the Panther Golf Course without an environmental impact assessment being required, despite serious environmental issues with golf courses in sensitive wetlands.  See Panther Golf Course for more information.

As shown in the picture above, environmental issues have already surfaced with the construction of the airport, including mud from piles of fill running into a small creek adjacent to the airport, which empties into the Caribbean.