And on a more encouraging note from the House meeting, when Minister of Natural Resources Cordel Hyde stood up to support the 12 million dollars earmarked in the supplementary appropriations bill for new roads, he did so with a concrete real-world example.
Hyde spoke about an upcoming community this his ministry is distributing lands for at mile 8. It is still largely inaccessible to new land owners without the necessary road access. He said that would change with the use of the proposed funds and he encouraged those new land owners many of whom have received house lots valued $20,000 to hold on to what they have. Here's more:
Cordel Hyde, Minister of Lands
"Our new nascent mile 8 community as you know there is hardly any land available or any land available to speak of in Belize City and so we've given hundreds of Belize City residents lots at mile 8 but they've not been able to reach those lots because we've not been able to put in the streets so I'm happy to report that this supplementary appropriation will see us see the Ministry of Infrastructure start that process where the roads will be put in. I know a lot of people were frustrated because they really wanted to reach their land and they couldn't. Some of them didn't think we are serious, but we are to say to them we are serious, and we are here to say to them also as frustrated as you got, you must cradle this opportunity. It is a big deal, they are spending a few hundred dollars to get a lot that's valued over $20,000, you can't beat that with a hammer, you need to cradle that opportunity. You need to go and pay your purchase price and get your title and hug that up real tightly. Resist the temptation for a few dollars, resist the temptation to sell your land. Land is a valuable and finite resource. So, if you sell your land it might not be so easy to get another piece so we want to encourage our people, once you get your land don't sell it, don't get like a crack head and sell your things, hold on to your things because when you get a piece of land you can lift your family out of poverty."
