And while the City Council is focussing on this high profile projects, many complain that the basic needs of the city are being neglected.
We asked Mayor Bernard Wagner about the unsightly scenes around the city, including uncut grass on the shoulders and medians of major roads. His response is that his employees work hard, and that Covid-19 has put a strain on resources.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
"I have the hardest working grass cutting team, the hardest working sanitation team, the hardest working works team and I can't see where we're losing in that area. My people, they work very hard, sometimes we can't reach all the areas, some people have to understand as well, we're dealing with a pandemic and resources become scarce. Property taxes noh the perform like one time so it's all a whole network of things causing slowing down. The city is run on property tax and people are not working, weh you want we do? Sell off the people properly? We can't do that so we have to continue work along with the people and do the best."
Reporter
"You know people, they look at results, some would say that this council isn't matching up to the timeline that the UDP council had when they were in power."
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
"They had a twelve year timeline, how ih noh wah match? We have a two year, we just deh two years. Do the maths, less than ten percent of fi they time. There is no comparison, period."
The Mayor also noted that there have been no complaints about garbage collection throughout the Covid period.
