Residents of Ambergris Caye say they have not been properly consulted on plans for an international airport in the north of the island, even as documents suggest the project is already moving ahead.
The United Nations Development Programme’s website lists the airport as an investment opportunity under a concession agreement. News Five also obtained an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) request for consultants, dated March 24, 2025, which says construction is planned to begin in 2027 and finish in 2029. It adds that the current John Greif II Airport site could later be used for real estate.
The government says any move away from the John Greif II Airport would be carefully planned, with consultation and coordination with airlines. Residents say a town council presentation earlier this year was not a consultation.
Father Eduardo Montemayor, pastor of the San Pedro Catholic Church, said he welcomes a new airport but not the closure of the current one. “I was following it online, ok a new airport, that is good. But suddenly this one will close in the next two to three years, wow. That would be unwise.”
Jose Arceo, co-chair of Ambergris Caye Citizens for Sustainable Development, said the first thing residents heard was the price tag. “First thing we heard from these guys is that it’s a six-hundred-million-dollar project for the airport, the road going north.”
Residents also want answers on a 40-foot-wide highway being built through the north of the island, at least three miles of which are complete. The Briceño administration has not answered questions about its cost or the contractors, and the Ministry of Infrastructure Development is not involved, News Five confirmed.
San Pedro Town Mayor Wally Nunez said the road is meant to keep vehicles off the beach, where turtles nest. “We are building this road so that this will be the official road so that they don’t have to go through the beach.”
Nunez said material for the road comes from two quarries, one of them private. He did not name its owner, but said the information could be provided later.
