And one of the first tenants to move into the newly inaugurated building will be the Prime Minister. He will be moving his office to the Business Center, and will rent a larger space for Cabinet to meet, rather than use the House of Culture in Belize City.
It's expected to carry a hefty price tag, especially since the government has said it will reduce recurrent expenditure by about 2 percent of GDP.
So, how does that square with some plush new digs in the most impressive building in the capital?
But the DPM, Cordel Hyde, explained that it's not costing GOB any extra dollars.
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister
"He is going to rent, I'm not sure which part of the building, but his office will come up here, Cabinet will come up here, because right now we have not been able to use the space that's traditionally been used for Cabinet because it's too small considering COVID restrictions and so we've had to be meeting in Belize City as opposed to Belmopan where the seat of the government sits. So we are going to return here once that rental process is worked out, a month or two, I' told. I'm also told it won't cost the government additional money. That they are going to give up an expensive rental they have with some private sector person and that money they spent there will now be spent with the workers of Belize, in terms of payments to Social Security because once we move it will open up some space in the administration building and some departments that were rented before will be able to use that."
Reporter:
"So it's a matter of freeing up space and not necessarily a matter of incurring additional expenses?"
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Deputy Prime Minister
"Yeah it's not additional expenses as far as I understand it was neutralize itself. We won't be spending anymore money than we're spending right now."
