B.T.L. dedicates Placencia community projects
B.T.L., our sole functioning phone company, is no stranger to the news…usually due to controversy over rates and issues of competitive regulation. But today it was the corporate giant’s turn to display the silver lining of monopoly capitalism. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods reports from the Placencia Peninsula.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
It may have taken almost two years, but six families, who lost everything during hurricane Iris in October of 2001, were very glad to receive keys to their newly constructed one-bedroom homes. The green and white houses were a gift from Belize Telecommunications Limited.
Rosita Palacio, House Recipient
“It was discomfort when I lose my house. I have some people from the States who give me their house, because I am so good with them, so they give me their house to stay. So I am so very glad that I got the keys to my house.”
Recent rains reveal that the yards need a bit of fill, but B.T.L.’s Chairman, Dean Boyce, said it’s additional work that his company won’t mind helping with.
The category three storm may have wreaked havoc along the peninsula, but the Seine Bight Village Council was determined to work toward rebuilding the community’s infrastructure.
Leonard Williams, Chairman, Seine Bight Village
“For Seine Bight to progress and make Seine Bight, the community itself a tourist destination, there are improvement we need to take on as a body, as a council, and also constant lobby with the central government in terms of improving roads, streets within the community and also the buildings in Seine Bight. Homes, we need to paint our houses and start to encourage villagers to go into small businesses like bed and breakfast.”
Today, there are one thousand eight hundred people who inhabit Seine Bight. Of that number, thirty percent or five hundred and forty people, mostly women, are employed in the hotel industry. Prime Minister Said Musa agrees that Seine Bight has traditionally been a depressed area and there is a definite need for economic growth.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“To be very blunt about it, we need to encourage our Belizeans of Seine Bight to get more involved in the tourism industry. Traditionally, they have been fisher folk and working in the valley, the citrus industry. But the beach is as beautiful as the beach in Placencia and we need to get them oriented towards the services industry, the tourist industry, and I think it will happen.”
It is not certain how long it will be before Seine Bight progresses, but there are a number of issues that will need to be addressed for any kind of significant growth to take place. Unlike our new homeowners, many of the villagers do not have titles to the land they occupy.
Prime Minister Said Musa
“Over the generations people just live on certain spots, and you know how these estates are, family estates. So we need to sort out land title and make sure people have title to their land and they can build decent homes, knowing full well it’s for them and their generations to come.”
Musa says his government will continue to work to improve conditions in the area.
Further up the peninsula, things continue to look good for Placencia. Today ground was broken for that community’s first park. It was a gift to the village from B.T.L.
Harald Wallen, Asst. Treasurer, Placencia Village Council
“The children don’t have anywhere to start with and as the place develops and more and more houses go in there’s less and less land for them to play. All the land around the school has already been taken up and this park is just perfect, close to the school and close to the health centre. And it’ll work out just beautiful for the village and the children.”
Suzette Tillett, Public Relations Manager, B.T.L.
“We’ll start the work as soon as this month. What we are doing is completing the plans and then we’ll have the plans shown to the Village Council so they can make any changes and we’ll start from there.”
B.T.L. says with the construction of their new building, customers living along the peninsula have had their services properly restored. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
Despite the show of generosity, B.T.L. is still receiving complaints from Placencians of slow internet speeds and the poor quality of Digicell service on the peninsula.
