For the record, he didn't speak on it - and our sources tell us that there is, in fact, no written report. The leader of the working group recently referred to the so-called report as a "Cabinet paper."
But the Prime Minister did reject any suggestion that the same land acquisition maneuver which has now been used at Stake Bank could have been used to acquire the land for the hospital - instead of purchasing the land on the market at what many in the real estate sector agree is an inflated price.
And building a hospital would truly have fit the description of land acquired for a public purpose - much more than a privately owned cruise Port.
The PM rejected the comparison today:
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"First of all, it's like what we said, you can't compare oranges with apples, they are two different instances. In the first instance with the issue of the land for the Belmopan hospital, there was a buyer and a seller, they met, they negotiated, one had a higher price, one had a lower price, they negotiated and then they settled on a price. On the Stake Bank land as you all know, there's a legislation that was passed by the UDP whereby we deemed this project of national importance and now that it seems that between the different investors, they've been having issues, that project has been at a standstill. we are awaiting approximately 270 million dollars. But because there's a dispute with the land, that project cannot be finished and if you look at the numbers for the cruise lines that are going down, we need to be able to finish that project. We believe that as a government that what we did is first we put the first notice of acquisition. What does that trigger? It triggers then then the owner to come to government and to say okay this is my land and negotiate a price. If a suitable price cannot be worked out then we go to the second stage when there is compulsory acquired and then the courts take over after that so it's a simple issue."
Reporter:
"In this case, this is the expansion, so what becomes of the other parts of the property, what's the agreement there moving forward?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well the problem isn't with the center part, the problem is the area that was dredged around the island with only a 200 meter opening for the land and if we want to finish that project then that land is essential as it is right now because no work is taking place, I'm told that probably as much as 5 acres have been washed away because we really need to move with a sense of urgency."
Reporter:
"How much will this cost taxpayers?"
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"It will cost taxpayers not one single cent and why do we say that? When I brought it up to the Cabinet, the Cabinet said the only way we'll consider this is if there's an indemnity agreement, an indemnity that when this is settled by the courts, if we go to the courts, then the investors, they are the ones that are going to be responsible to pay for that and apart from them just signing an indemnity we also have the financial backing, there's a deposit in the government's account as a downpayment plus also from another financial institution that will be responsible for the payment so there's nothing much more to add to it."
