An Event-Driven Opportunity for Investors
The sun descends behind the lush foothills of the Mayan Mountains to the west, outlining them in relief against the brilliant tropical sunset reflecting on the calm water of this vast seaside lagoon. From the east, a few fluffy clouds chase each other in from the Caribbean Sea, against an impossibly blue sky. Two evenings stars emerge as prelude to the upcoming drama of tonight’s Milky Way. . .
No boats disturb the smooth water. No airplanes cross the sky. No vehicles are heard anywhere. Herons fly home for the night as their nightbird replacements call across the water. Howler monkeys grunt in distant treetop jungle. The tide is coming in, and with it a cruising tarpon swirls under overhanging branches.
After dark I sit on the dock watching the big dipper slowly turn. A faint glow on the northern horizon indicates the closest civilization, Belize City. It is only twenty-three miles away as the heron flies, but it might as well be on another planet. In the full dark, the vast Milky Way reaches across the sky, from sea to mountains.
We are here, quiet and secure. Smells of supper waft down from the kitchen. Our boat is docked right here, in this pristine estuary – an IUCN Category IV Wildlife Sanctuary. Its nearby beaches are the most important Hawksbill Turtle nesting grounds in the western Caribbean. Fed by seven pure jungle rivers, its surrounding mountains and forests support a primordial ecosystem that has nurtured flora and fauna in wild natural abundance for eons. All five varieties of Central America’s ‘big cats’ thrive here. And Tapir and Peccary. The largest and the smallest species of the world’s Kingfishers skim the creek surface. Jabiru storks and Aracari. Yellow-bill Parrots, Blue Morphos Butterlies, hummingbirds, brilliant jungle birds. Tiny melodious frogs of yet-undetermined Linnaean classification sing in the dark. Exotic bromeliads and wild orchids festoon the cliffs and savanna.
The Coastal Highway and the Gales Point Manatee Area
Until the early 1990’s the only way to reach this area was by boat, horse, or rough tractor path. The unpaved “Coastal Road” was then built so local citrus farms could export crops, and isolated Gales Point Village would finally have a road in from the outside world. Bridges built by US and British Army crews were occasionally washed away in floods. Some maps designated this road as the Coastal “Highway”. The word “highway” then belied its true nature. Although it was a significant shortcut to the southern half of the country, this rough gravel road was suitable only for four-wheel-drive vehicles and trucks. Flat tires abounded. Bus lines didn’t come here. Car rental companies then forbade their vehicles to travel this beautiful road through the dramatic karst hills. Seasonal floods marooned residents at home for days. . . This has all changed.
Here is epic quietude with miles of untouched Caribbean beaches; lush farmland; exotic mountain vistas; the nearby MesoAmerican Barrier Reef; and the verdant mountain forests that draw us here.
Paving the Road To Paradise
This has changed. In his 2016 Independence Day address, Belize’s Prime Minister announced an ambitious project financed by a £40.million U.K. grant – to pave, re-align and bridge Belize’s Coastal Highway. In July 2023, Belize’s new Prime Minister led a ribbon-cutting ceremony, celebrating completion.
It was, after all, the last unpaved section of the Caribbean-side, Pan American Highway between Texas and Honduras’ “mosquito coast”. The IMF and the World Bank wanted it paved. And paving makes sense. The country’s power grid already accompanied this Coastal Highway. It is a flat, 36-mile coastal shortcut, greatly shortening the current 90+ mile mountainous journey along paved roads. Progress has come. Employment and an actual economy are finally reaching Gales Point Village, a subsistence Creole fishing village on a narrow peninsula.
Work is complete. All the bridges are done. Engineering, surveys and plans were set to European and world standards. Work began in January, 2020, and was officially complete in July 2023, ahead of schedule. Realignment, paving, new bridges, culverts, guard rails, reflective paint, signage, all is done.
This level Coastal Road reduces travel time
by more than an hour to Southern Belize.
This beautiful, sparsley-developed area
is already becoming Belize’s newest Enterprise Zone.
This bridge and others are now complete. Completion of the Coastal Highway project is set for 2023.
What will development bring to a beautiful, wild, undeveloped area?
Can it be managed and controlled?
IUCN Category IV Wildlife Sanctuary
The official IUCN designation of “Category IV Wildlife Sanctuary” to the Gales Point Wildlife Sanctuary could help. This huge estuary system is untouched by pollution. No farms nor industries effect the pristine jungle rivers flowing from the Mayan Mountains toward the sea. Assays have been done on several creeks, and they prove potable. The water nurtures the seagrass, which feeds the West Indian Manatees. Ocean gamefish can be caught far up these jungle rivers and streams. “Category IV’ is the same designation given to the Galápagos Archipelago. But here the only authority monitoring this sanctuary is a small, local NGO with a single staff person. However, if the IUCN’s rules and guidelines are respected, the value of this priceless watershed can be maintained for future generations. This is a classic, ancient, estuary system feeding the coral reefs offshore and maintaining an ecological balance in the region rarely encountered on earth these days.
Where the estuary system flows into the sea is where Belize’s Maya Mountains and their dramatic karst foothills come closest to the sea. It is also where the Coastal Highway comes closest to the sea, then glides south to intersect with the Hummingbird Highway near Dangriga. Because this road was unpaved, development had bypassed this magnificent coastal region, even though it is relatively close to the international airport. As yet, there is virtually no development along this 36-mile stretch of level road. It is surrounded by a hundred-thousand hectares of wild, national jungle & savanna. Since the local rainfall is ideal for farming two crops yearly, and the soil is fertile, there are large fruit & citrus farms, and a number of private, off-grid “safe-haven” estates.
The properties in this area tend to be large, so high-density development is not likely, at least in the near future. One significant property holding is more than 22 square miles, encompassing three miles of Caribbean beach, a thousand acres a fruit groves, high-canopy mountain rainforest, ocean-access canals, and the only private, paved airstrip in this part of the country.
Within the Southern Lagoon itself is a subsistence-level fishing village, Gales Point Village. It was established by runaway slaves in the late 1700s, and because of its remote, defensible location on a 2-1/2 mile-long peninsula, it has not changed much over the years. This picturesque village is home to an Afro-Caribbean drumming heritage extending way back to mother Africa.
Pristine, uninhabited Caribbean beaches stretch for nearly 30 miles, from Belize City south to Dangriga. Closer to Dangriga, shrimp farms can be seen from the air. Already, hit-and-run outlaw loggers are entering the area, cutting Mahogany, Sapodilla, and other native hardwoods when nobody is looking. The local farmers grow a wide variety of cash crops, including export-quality citrus, “Caribbean Gold” mangos, rice, vegetables, hardwood, coconuts, sweet watermelon, bamboo, and exotic fruit.
The “Blue Bond”
The Nature Conservancy (TNC), with help from Credit Suisse, in 2021 announced the execution of the world’s largest Blue Bond for Conservation, allocating capital towards debt sustainability and marine conservation for Belize. Jennifer Morris, CEO of TNC, said, “The twin crises of the climate emergency and biodiversity loss require rethinking and redesigning the ways we invest in our economies and natural assets. The Belize Blue Bond is a world-leading example of how a country can reduce its debt and create more fiscal space to dedicate substantial funds to its conservation ambitions. Belize is showing that when we work together, combining science, global finance and partnerships from the national to the community level, we can achieve enormous wins for people and nature.”
Property Values
In this part of the world, people use land to protect their wealth. And this is a very good place to do so. The Good Lord is not creating any new waterfront land, so these properties not only hold their value but continue to appreciate, inexorably, year after year. During the 2009 financial crises the effected much of the world, this land continued to appreciate. Foreigners invested here rather than suffer the vagaries of the stock market. An American REIT had the foresight to invest in Coastal Highway land in 2005, and in 2009 they sold some of it at a nice profit, covering their losses back home. Where else can one find resort-quality beaches adjacent to profitable agriculture land?
In this English-speaking, democratic, British Commonwealth country, freehold title can be owned by foreigners, and are commonly backed by title guarantee from US-based title companies. IMF economic growth projections for 2017 list Belize ahead of the USA, Mexico, Netherlands, Taiwan, and Japan (Bloomberg Business Journal 10/24/16). That steady growth was due to a strong agricultural sector vying with a vigorous tourism industry to be the country’s number-one producer.
The Pandemic hammered Belize’s economy, especially since tourism is such an important economic driver. But already in 2022, Belize’s economy was rebounding due to strong agricultural exports, wise fiscal policy ~ and the Blue Bond’s alleviation of sovereign debt.
What Next?
It is likely that investors will view this as an “event-driven opportunity” in a strategic and significant western Caribbean location. Property values will increase. Infrastructure has improved. Belize moves away from extractive development toward conservation. Education for the local villagers and farmers improves. Local economies are nurtured. Seaside communities are being created.
Can it be done in an intelligent, sustainable manner ~
respectful of the local culture
and protecting the rare ecosystems that thrive here now?
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