Who’s in the Dark Over Caye Caulker Police Station Plans?

The standoff over Caye Caulker’s controversial police station is taking another turn and this time, it’s about who knows what. Belize Rural South Area Rep Andre Perez is refuting claims from the village council that they’ve been left in the dark about construction timelines. The council recently raised concerns online after weeks of no visible activity at the site, but Perez says the holdup comes down to logistics, not a lack of communication. And as for the council’s push to have the land transferred into its name? Perez says that’s simply not feasible at this stage.

 

Andre Perez, Area Representative, Belize Rural South

“I want to refute that in terms of why the council has not been updated. The entire community and the Caye Caulker Village Council have been kept abreast, from the Minister of Police, me as the rep, that the construction is going to continue. We have told them the construction is going to continue. The people have spoken and we respect that. While we had other plans in discussions that never went into full negotiations, that is it. We spoke to the contractor and told them that the contractor had to mobilize, because of the logistics, he had another project, in particular building another police station in Bella Vista. So, putting all together human resources, equipment takes a while, especially to an island. We explained that to them. And I can confirm to you that this morning the mobilization has started, the community has been informed officially, the workers have arrived. So, much ado about nothing. The construction resumes.”

 

Paul Lopez

“What considerations are being made into the request for the parcel of land to be put into the council’s name?”

 

Andre Perez

“That is what they are requesting but unfortunately, and we made it clear, that these funds to build the station comes from CABEI. And the deal we do with CABEI is that the project, wherever it is built, must be under the name of the Department, the Ministry, or the Government of Belize. If we did not place that in the hands of the police that project would not have been materialized. So the project is there to stay for the community in the form of a police station.”

 

Perez says works on the police station are expected to resume within the coming days. We will continue to follow.

 

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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