Yesterday, the Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing Julius Espat laid out some very stark figures for the new, yet-to-be-completed Ministry of Finance Building on Lake I Boulevard in Belize City. He claimed that the cost for the building is approximately 28 million dollars at an exorbitant cost of $1,300 dollars per square foot.
He didn't name the contractor, but today we received a release from the contractor which is a joint venture between Medina's Construction and IE Joint Venture.
Espat alleged that there were multiple contracts but, in its release, the contractor says it is responsible for "one contract with one addendum bringing the contract price to 14.5 million dollars. Added to that is another 5 million dollars for a steel structure which Belize Infrastructure Limited acquired for the government of Belize.
And, the Joint Venture release adds, quote, "The total building area is 59,200 square feet resulting in that the cost per square foot of $330+/-." Again, the minister cited a figure of more than four times that at $1,300 dollars per square foot - which the release calls "absurd."
The joint venture adds that it is quote," ready to discuss these numbers at any time with the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Infrastructure to corroborate the accuracy of the statements above."
We sent the statement to Minister Espat today and he said, quote, "We are in the process of analysing all the various parts of the contracts to determine a total. Up to now it is adding up to approximately 28 million. After the full audit is done, then we will forward all the information to the media." End quote.
