MEETING HELD TO RESOLVE ISSUE OF BELIZE CITY DUMPSITE

March 20, 2007

Yesterday we reported of a meeting between the Ministry of Works and the Belize City Council to discuss the completion of an access road to house the City’s new garbage dumpsite.Love News spoke with Chief Engineer in the Ministry of Works, Cadet Henderson who updates us on the results of the meeting.

Cadet Henderson: Chief Engineer

“Basically we have agreed to do a small extension with the availability of the bulldozer that is presently working on site which has been there since Friday. The bulldozer will continue until the end of tomorrow at which time City Council has assured us that their excavator will be ready by then to take over the task of clearing the existing access road. In regard to the new access road that is being built construction commenced today for the capping of that road that was built a couple of weeks ago with hard core material and that will be completed this week.”

Chief Engineer in the Ministry of Works, Cadet Henderson. Love News also spoke City Councilor Wayne Usher who was present at the meeting, representing the Belize City Council. Usher reiterated Henderson’s statement, that the road should be accessible by week’s end.

Wayne Usher: City Councilor

“The work will commence on the new access road to the rare of the present dumpsite and they will be putting a coating of gravel on that road so that we will then be able to access it as early as this weekend to start utilizing that new entrance to the rear of the present dumpsite. Once that is established and our vehicles can go behind there safely we will have proper maintenance of that site established proper security, proper citing of the garbage once it is dumped and then it will be spread continuously behind there. So will not be seeing these mountains of garbage again, it will be spread evenly and eventually covered over.”

Usher adds that there are now new parameters in how the new dumpsite will be operated.

Wayne Usher: City Councilor

“In the meantime we want to put a notice to those people who profit that dumpsite that they will not be able to go beyond our check point on that new road. We will have to have them desist from going back there because they interfere with the work so we have to give them the notice that they wont be able to go beyond our check point.”

Belize City Councilor responsible for Sanitation, Public Health, and the Environment, Wayne Usher. Usher says that a joint press release, between themselves and the Ministry, will soon be issued, outlining the conditions under which they will be operating. He says that the current dumpsite will see the garbage leveled, covered with either sand or clay, and then landscaped with grass.Councilor Usher appeals to the Solid Waste Management authorities to step up and get the Solid Waste Management Project underway.

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