Rapid Expansion Leaves Belize City Under Pressure

Belize City is expanding, and the growth is coming fast. But as new neighborhoods push further outward, the pressure is mounting on the city’s roads, drains, and overall planning. Mayor Bernard Wagner says much of that expansion is happening without proper oversight, leaving residents grappling with poor infrastructure and repeated flooding. And when those problems arise, it’s the Belize City Council that residents turn to for solutions. The mayor says only Belama Phases One and Two were properly planned, while other developments have grown in ways he calls unsustainable. Tonight, he breaks down why smart, long‑term planning is now urgent, and how the lack of it is fueling tension between City Hall and other entities.

 

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“The city continues to grow. The city continues to expand. We continue to battle with this sort of unplanned urbanization that occurs all across the outer fringes of the city. And, I always get into fight with other entities about the fact that we are not planning out the urban neighborhoods in a sustainable way. And what occurs is that people are granted lands and then they require that the city now has to put in roads and that is not good. The last planned housing project in my view in the city was the Belama Phase one and two. Thereafter, those other phases, three, four and five have really grown out organically an then it is just spreading and then it brings additional strain to the city’s resources because people begin to cry about streets, my street the flood. I don’t have any street. But it has to be a comprehensive plan and Belize City will continue to battle with this unsustainable urbanization that is occurring.”