The Fort Street Tourism Village is giving the City Council 33 cents out of the four U.S. dollars it gets as head tax. That's less than 10% but to prove their partnership with City Hall, the village went into its checkbook to pay the council to pave that portion of Fort Street which runs in front of the village. Work started on Friday and the tar and the gravel were laid on this afternoon. Today we were at the village as the Mayor Zenaida Moya was out inspecting the product of these private sector funded public works.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
Over the weekend the pot hole ridden section of Fort Street that runs through the tourism village was ripped up and this afternoon we found heavy equipment rolling the material in place before the final phase of tarring and adding gravel on it began. Belize City Councilor in charge of streets and drains Anthony Michael says he approached the management of the Tourism Village for this venture.
Anthony Michael, City Councilor
"I thought that it was my initiative to have contacted the Belize Tourism Village and spoke to Mr. James Nisbet. The street was in a bad condition and I indicated to him that patching it will not make much sense. We had a water leak here, which Belize Water Services came in and fixed which was contributing to the deterioration of the street. So Mr. Nisbet told me to provide him with a cost of what it would take and we provided the cost of $10,430. I gave him the cost and he said he would pay for the material and Belize City Council will provide the equipment and the expertise and the labor and this is how come this is being paved right now.
We had to rip off the old tar. What basically, in engineering terms, they just say the tar was dead; basically it wasn't good for anything. So we had to get back to the earth so that was removed and we new material, compact it, wet it, and we are still compacting but it is now ready to be sealed. The work started Saturday morning, people were out here and we worked all day yesterday and today. In about the next fifteen minutes, the tar will be put on the street and the chip, which is the stones, because it is a chip and seal, will be put there and the street will be passable in the next two hours."
And while the village will have newly paved street Mayor Zenaida Moya who was also at the worksite says that this is the kind of thing that City Hall will be pursuing. That is looking at particular business houses to contribute to the work of city hall that is next to broke.
Zenaida Moya, Mayor of Belize City
"We've always been asking the business community to work along with the Belize City Council to assist us in terms of ensuring that the streets are paved. We were very fortunate to have Mr. Nisbet from the Tourism Village approach the council to give his support to assist in terms of giving funds to pave this portion of the street. It helps both the Tourism Village and of course it helps the stakeholders here and of course it helps all the different people who walk along here, the pedestrians, the regular residents who want to walk along here before they go to the Animal Park and so forth."
And while the tourism village will be looking a lot smarter with the fresh spray of tar and dash of gravel Moya says that already there is commitment by one utility company to do the same as is the Fort Street Tourism Village while there is another that simply won't.
Zenaida Moya,
"We have already been approaching different business establishments. I know that one utility company in particular, they have indicated, that's the Water Services, they have informed that they will be able to assist in terms of paving of the street right behind them, behind their compound, that's Evergreen Street and Peter Seco Street. So hopefully they do live up to their word and assist in terms of paving of those streets. Disappointingly I know that BTL has already submitted a letter to us saying that they will not assist in terms of development project which I find disappointing but I am hoping that they will reverse that decision because we do understand that in terms of the millions of dollars of their profits that they should be in a position to assist the residents of Belize City, give back something. We have to approach the different businesses, we have to approach the different areas, sectors."
And if we are to judge by today's final touches on Fort Street, it is definitely a venture worth looking into.
And while the initiative of bringing in private sector money for the city's public works is starting to pay off, Mayor Moya today told us that proceeds from the very traffic that passes through the Fort Street Tourism Village will soon come into CITCO's coffers.
Zenaida Moya,
"The Belize City Council will be accepting the monies effective February 1st. Rest assured we have received no money as yet. But the agreement did say that as a February 1st the agreement will be effected but we reserve the right to continue to ensure that we receive the arrears and that is something that is key as well and that we will continue to push that it be legislatively done. We are hoping that by this month clearly we would have a check that we can show the people and that we can inform the people that this is what we have received as it pertains to the head tax."
The head tax money will be channeled through the Ministry of Local Government as part of the regular subvention.
