U.D.P. candidate clashes with City Council
As the various national and municipal elections draw closer, we will no doubt begin to see a number of stories like the next one…that is where politics is never far beneath the surface. Today’s tale centres around two bus stop shelters built in the Belama area of Belize City. The builder calls them a badly needed gift for area residents; the City Council says not so. News 5’s Marion Ali reports.
Marion Ali, Reporting
Despite two stop orders, U.D.P. Chairman and Standard Bearer for the Freetown Division, Doug Singh, says he went ahead and built the structures on Juliet Soberanis and Albert Hoy Streets, after months of fruitless waiting for permission from the Belize City Council.
Doug Singh, U.D.P. Freetown Standard Bearer
“We have made every effort to get a response from the Mayor’s office and the Mayor has not honoured us with a response. After having met with him in June, after having written a letter in August, and having made several calls to get a response from him and not being able to do so, I think it is his responsibility to respond to us one way or the other. It is fine for him to say it does not meet the needs or meet their standards, but respond to us. If we could have sit down to a drawing board, then certainly we could have come up to an understanding if this didn’t quite meet the standards that they wanted, and we could have worked on that.”
Singh’s intention was to build at least four sheds, but he has set aside plans for the other two pending a court decision to be delivered this Friday on the first two. As for City Mayor, David Fonseca, the Council could not approve Singh’s plans because they were not in conformity with those of the Council.
David Fonseca, City Mayor
“One or two were exactly where we wanted it, but he was not saying what type of structure he would put up.”
“To our knowledge he proceeded and when we went around to speak to him or to the person that was building these first two sheds, we told them what the position was, our officers, and that they needed to stop until he got the permission of the Council. He apparently decided to proceed on his own irregardless of what, and did so by firstly seeking the permission of a private property owner to put one of the sheds in the private property. We have no jurisdiction over a private property, so he proceeded to do so. However, the structure that he was putting up was totally not in accordance with what is required by the City.”
Marion Ali
“What features make it not in accordance?”
David Fonseca
“Number one, it’s too small, it is not in a position that will afford the public to utilize it, and it’s totally unsightly.”
Singh’s summons is in contravention of section 26 1A of the laws of Belize, which prohibits construction on public property without the permission of the Council.
Singh says he’s now awaiting a response from the Belize Police Department for permission to build another structure partially on the police station compound further up on Albert Hoy Street. Meanwhile, the City Council has plans to start building twenty-eight bus sheds throughout the city by the end of this year.
