Southern Area Rep Hoping For Emergency Sargassum Funding

Residents and tourism stakeholders in southern Belize are growing increasingly concerned as large amounts of sargassum continue to blanket the beaches of Placencia, Hopkins and other coastal communities, leaving some stretches of coastline virtually unusable. The issue has sparked urgent discussions among the Belize Tourism Board, local leaders, and government officials as they search for effective solutions. Area Representative for Stann Creek West Rodwell Ferguson says the situation has reached a critical stage, but he remains hopeful that international funding could soon be secured to help tackle the growing problem.

 

On The Phone: Rodwell Ferguson, Area Representative, Stann Creek West

“I’m very concerned because that coastline is beautiful. It’s now been affected by sargassum, which is a natural disaster. I do my utmost best to make sure I take the situation to cabinet. Cabinet has instructed that the Ministry of Economic Development do some quick connection with the IFIs to be able to find some quick financing. I’m hoping that we could get a result within a week or two to say that we are successful in finding the funding to deal with the entire coastline in the Stann Creek district. Okay, I’ll take Placencia, Seine Bight, Hopkins, Dangriga, all the way down. And I want the people to understand and to be patient. I know it’s difficult to be patient, especially the resorts who are taking a licking, but it’s a natural disaster.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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