Published November 5, 2026, the latest update from San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, clarifies ongoing public discourse surrounding a proposed new northern island airport, as local elected official Andre Perez pushes community focus beyond the single infrastructure project to a broader, multi-year holistic development vision for the popular Belizean barrier reef island. Perez, the Area Representative for Belize Rural South and former Minister of Civil Aviation, emphasized that the northern Ambergris Caye development framework, which includes the second airport, has been in preliminary cross-stakeholder discussions for well over a decade, with formal institutional backing established as early as 2022 when Prime Minister John Briceño convened a dedicated task force to assess the island’s long-term sustainable growth capacity. During public remarks, Perez stressed that the airport is only one small component of a far larger suite of targeted upgrades designed to accommodate projected 10 to 15 years of controlled population and tourism expansion, rather than a standalone priority. He outlined that parallel, high-priority projects already in active implementation include full sewer system overhauls, street paving, expanded electrical grid coverage, and a landmark land redistribution initiative targeted at low-income local residents who have been systematically marginalized and denied formal property ownership for 15 to 20 years. Pushback from local critic Paul Lopez noted that the immediate zone earmarked for the proposed airport currently sees almost no existing formal development, a claim Perez directly refuted, pointing to active ongoing work: the full access road leading to the popular Secret Beach recreation spot is currently being paved, with the first mile of northern roadway already completed, and the Belize Tourism Board is funding full electrical grid extension all the way to the Secret Beach coastal zone, alongside a growing wave of new residential housing construction in the surrounding Social Security-administered land parcels set aside for the airport. The full northern Ambergris Caye master plan has seen unprecedented public scrutiny over the past two weeks, as local community groups and industry stakeholders are increasingly calling for formal, transparent inclusion in all future planning and decision-making processes to ensure development aligns with island residents’ long-term interests. The report notes this content is adapted from a transcript of the station’s evening television newscast, with any Kriol-language segments rendered using standardized official spelling conventions for accessibility.