And in addition to managing investments, Miller also spoke about how they are managing the sargassum issue in the city. At times the sargassum accumulates along the seawall, affecting businesses within that perimeter. Miller explained what their cleanup strategy looks like, and the machine power they have been using:
Eluide Miller, Deputy Mayor of Belize City
"I think that is being done on a needs basis. As you know, we do have some kind of forecast that we receive through the National Sargassum Task Force. They have a specific tool that really gives them a heads up of sorts or a warning when there will be significant sargassum coming into Belize City. But of course, it's on a needs basis at this time. As you can imagine, we don't have specialized equipment of our own to take care of these things, and so it does come at some cost to us. But this is a problem that we are preparing ourselves to be able to tackle in the future. I don't think it's a problem that will go away. In the first instance, given that we did not necessarily foresee that we would have to tackle this issue at this very moment, we entered into a rental arrangement, I think it is the Hol-Chan Marine Reserve. And again, that rental arrangement was simply to clear whatever sargassum was there. And so I think that has been effectively done at this point. In the immediate future, I assume that that will continue to be the arrangement. But I do know that we're working on some special adaptations to excavators to be able to effectively remove them using excavators in the future. And that is one of the things that the National Sargassum Task Force recommended to us, that they have applied in different areas across the country that has served them effectively. And so it is one of the solutions that we are thinking to explore."
Jomarie Lanza, Reporter
"So how much was that operation to remove the sargassum by a Marine Parade?"
Eluide Miller
"The initial cost, as I recall, it was about $10,000. And that was for a three to four day operation. And that really covers all necessary costs, the rental of the machinery, its team as well. But of course, there are additional costs that we had to incur in terms of rental of certain equipment, including dump trucks, etc. And of course, the fuel costs and that kind of thing."
