And while initial stages of the bridge work are underway, one part was the acquisition of the old Bottom Dollar Building, the parking lot and the warehouse. The government has purchased the three properties at 5 million dollars.
And what's the rationale? The Chief Engineer explains that either way the government would have paid 3 million dollars to move the sewer line but it would not have made sense and considering the temporary bridge that needs to be built, it was a better financial decision for the government to acquire and own those three properties:
Evondale Moody, Chief Engineer - MIDH
"Yes, the government of Belize has purchased that property. So that came about similar to the issue that we discussed earlier with respect to the sewer main for Belcan. We have a sewer main and a water main that crosses from Hydes Lane to Regent Street West. And that sewer main and water main, because we wanted to build a temporary bridge at that location, would be in the way. And so based on our field visit with BWS and a letter that I received from them, they wanted $3 million for us to move that line. We didn't have the time, right, because we have a specific timeline with JICA for us to complete the construction of the temporary bridge, so that we could have that temporary bridge in place by September of 2026. And then we had to move the existing swing bridge by December because the contractor will be in place by January of 2027. BWS would need one year for them to move that line. And so because it would cost us $3 million to move that line, and then we also have to find place for the Japanese contractor, we thought it was best for us to move the bridge over into bottom dollar's property. We initially look at just purchasing or acquiring just a portion of it. However, that space would also be used for the storage area for the Japanese contractor, because as a government, the agreement is that we have to provide a storage area for the Japanese contractor when they arrive in Belize. And we also need to provide an office space for the Japanese contractor when they arrive as well. So because we had funding in the grant agreement, we had 500 U.S., 500,000 U.S. available for the rental office space. We said, let's use that funds towards the acquisition of the entire property. And so bottom dollar has three properties. It has the parking lot. It has a bottom dollar building, and then it has the old distributors building that is adjacent to the swing bridge. So we would have had to spend $4 million to remove the pipe, the two pipes, plus for the rental of the space. And so we said, let's acquire the entire thing. Initially, they wanted $8 million for that property. But we negotiated with them and we were able to get it down to $5 million, which was much more closer to the valuation that we get because we had to do a valuation for that three properties. And so we thought it was a better deal for us to acquire the entire three properties, utilize the parking lot for the new bridge, which will be government, utilize bottom dollar for the next three years, the building itself for the contractors offices. And then we would eventually use the space where the old distributors is. We would have to demolish that old building and then that would be the storage area for the Japanese contractor, which would be right adjacent to the swing bridge because they were also looking at rental of the parking lot. That is by the old city council where San Pedro Belize express is. They wanted that property for us to rent, but it would have been very difficult and expensive for us to rent that property for three years. So it was ideal for us to acquire these three properties and solve the problem with the temporary, with the permanent bridge and also the space that we require to provide for the Japanese contractor. We took the initiative, we advised the government, and so we were able to acquire those three properties a week ago."
