This morning our news team was called out to the City Council Pound Yard Compound where staffers got panicked after work crews and began to tear down existing structures. It looked something like a forced eviction - a plausible move, because, as has been reported, the former council sold the compound. But this afternoon Mayor Zenaida Moya told us it was just a misunderstanding between work crews and a city councilor.
Zenaida Moya, Mayor of Belize City
"Mr. Hotchandani had some of his people go to move down particular, I believe it is the shed. I spoke to Councilor Michael, apparently the agreement was that they were supposed to move down only the little shed. For the first instance we would have used some of those materials at my mile four to put up a temporary shed. However apparently the workers, they were misinformed, and they were also going to dismantle the paint shop today as well. Tomorrow the garage, the mechanic section, and then thereafter the main offices. I spoke to Councilor Michael and he said he never gave any authoritization for any of those buildings to be dismantled. It was only for that shed because he was going to use some of the materials from that shed.
Mr. Hotchandani, they gave the council $50,000 to put towards the new building. As we speak, the building, you know we had to go through the tender process and all of that, that has been completed. The building is being built however we need time. We are trying to ensure that we juggle all the different engagements and different activities so that has taken up some of the time of the workers but the Traffic Department should be relocated on the 2nd of January so therefore all the workers will be deployed to ensure that the shed is completed and we are hoping that the shed will be completed within a week's time."
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
Within a week's time from the second of January?
Zenaida Moya,
"Correct. We cannot continue to pay rent. We were paying rent of $7,800 every month for the municipal court and the traffic department offices at Regent Street. The Municipal Court has since moved and they are now at the Commercial Center. So we are relocating the Traffic Department. So we are trying to really ensure that we move out of all these unnecessary expenditures."
If you're wondering why the City Council has to move from the Pound Yard Compound well, the land, which is valued at $3.5 million was sold to Antonio Novelo for $1.2 million by the previous City Council. Moya claims the council has only received $130,000 for that transaction and they are presently taking the matter to court. As for the new owner, businessman Arun Hotchandani purchased the land from the Belize Bank where it had been mortgaged by the previous owner.
