Home Affairs CEO Draws Line on Controversial Caye Caulker Land

Parcel 815 isn’t just beachfront anymore; it’s ground zero for a growing fight on Caye Caulker. A planned, CABEI-backed police station project recently turned into protests, petitions, and a big question: who controls the land and what gets built there? Government signed a one-point-five-million-dollar contract in January for a modern station with specialized units and more than three thousand, five hundred square feet of space. But by mid-April, work reportedly stalled, fueling rumors the prime seafront parcel could be up for sale, prompting the Caye Caulker Village Council to push a petition and referendum drive to keep it for public safety. Home Affairs CEO Elton Bennett says Parcel 815 is national land and calls it “a very strange request” to transfer police-designated property to the village council, while insisting government will continue construction.

 

Elton Bennett, CEO, Ministry of Home Affairs

“I believe that that is not being discussed at this stage. That is national land, it’s land that was given to the government, so for that to be transferred to the village council is a very strange request. I don’t see the need for land that is designated to the police, which is a national service, to be placed in a municipal body such as a village council.”

 

Reporter

“What’s the plan for a police station, then, in Caye Caulker?”

 

Elton Bennett

“We continue to construct.”

 

Reporter

“As in immediately or it resumes?”

 

Elton Bennett

“Yes.”

 

Reporter

“Was there any discussion with CABEI, to your knowledge, to have paused construction to consider building in another location?”

 

Elton Bennett

“Yes, there were discussions. There were opportunities presented. The decisionmakers looked at it and at the end of the day, the decisionmakers decided to continue to construct the police station.”

 

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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