CitCo to Remove Derelict from Streets, Violators to Pay

Bernard Wagner

As you drive around the city, you may come up on derelict vehicles parked on the road side – they’ve been there for months and in some cases even longer, despite warnings from the Belize City Council that they should be removed or else. Mayor Bernard Wagner says that an active campaign commences with the next week or so to see these vehicles removed from the city’s streets. Mechanics and others should take heed to the penalties associated with this, which Mayor Wagner says in contained in the law.

Bernard Wagner, Belize City Mayor

“There is a project to address that, an aggressive project which will start within a week or two and it will be aggressive because we have done the necessary notices; it is in the law books for us. It is very clear, if you go and look it up; it is there what we can do within forty-eight hours of a vehicle being the same area. There is a law there and we plan to enforce it very soon and so I urge those mechanics, those street side mechanics – you either comply with the rule of the law or face the consequences of the law.”

Duane Moody

“What are some of the penalties?”

Bernard Wagner

“It varies. That we impound the vehicle and take it and put it in a facility and that owner of the vehicle pays a daily fee until he takes it back out. And if not taken back out in a certain time, the city has the right to auction off that vehicle. So I urge those mechanics, those street side mechanics – and we will come down very hard on them in respect of trade license as well – to begin to comply with the law. We can’t have a lawless city; it’s time for a change.”