Is Belize Paying Too Much for Public Land?

A recent High Court ruling has raised serious questions about how much money the Government of Belize pays when acquiring private land for public use. Opposition Leader Tracy Taegar-Panton is calling out what she describes as a troubling trend: buying land cheaply, then compensating owners at inflated market prices. She argues this isn’t just bad policy, it’s corruption. One case, involving land within a nature reserve, has sparked debate over whether public interest is being undermined by speculative land deals. Should Belize have clearer rules to prevent this kind of payout? And who really benefits when public funds are used this way?

 

Tracy Taegar-Panton, Leader of the Opposition

“The courts have recently made a judgment against having these kinds of exorbitant market value compensation. I don’t remember the details of the case, but it was a precedence-setting decision by the court and I really believe that this level of corruption, because that is what I call it, when you flip. We buy cheap and then we sell at market value and so, really, there has to be some kind of, I don’t know if it’s regulation, but some kind of guidelines and protocols on how we’re going to deal with speculation on property, for that reason and that reason alone. That piece of land, as I recall it, for Ms. Chavarria, was part of a nature reserve and should be acquired in the public’s interest and so I don’t believe that in any administration this practice of compensating at this huge market values is acceptable. It’s not acceptable.”