Notably, the officials flatly maintained that the ponds do not generate any odor and that if the residents of Cohune Walk were smelling it - that smell was coming from somewhere else - not the ponds. They had no independent verification of this.
Nurse Lizett Bell who headed the Policy, Planning and Project Management unit that decided to move the hospital site explained what were the overriding considerations:
Nurse Lizett Bell, Policy, Planning and Project Management
"One of the major things we noted was the creek that was running directly in the property. And this particular creek is the one that is the drainage site for the Belmopan area and would normally take the water for the different creeks that run within that area."
"So it's the area where you would have the runoff water for the Belmopan City. So in addition to that, we also noted the issue of access. And that is something that is very important when you look at health systems because you can look at access from two different points."
"So we looked at it from the aspect of infrastructure, meaning the issue of roads, the issue of moving patients from the facility and having them accessible to the facility. So that was one component of it."
"So you are looking at how patients would navigate or how patients would move within the urban infrastructure to get to the facility. So you're speaking about transportation links, people able to walk to the facility, ease of access with a low cost transportation."
"And based on our experience at the Ministry of Health, we currently have the Palm View Center that is located in Maya Mopan, which is closer than this particular area. And to date, there is no public transportation that goes to that particular area."
