What’s The Plan for Krooman Lagoon Residents?

Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner recently visited Krooman Lagoon along with Canadian engineers to assess the living conditions of residents and identify alternative housing solutions. Krooman Lagoon is in the Collet Division and is a water reservoir.  Building on or over it gives cause for severe environmental concerns.  The idea caught the attention of Collet Area Representative and Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber who told News Five last week that no construction can occur within the reservoir. But Deputy Mayor Oscar Arnold says the Deputy Prime Minister has it wrong.

Oscar Arnold

Oscar Arnold, Deputy Mayor, Belize City

“What would happen essentially if government along with the city council can come to an agreement where they can provide land in an area where it is, the individual from Krooman Lagoon will be moved out from that area. I heard from one of the newscast one of the ministers saying that we want to build on Krooman Lagoon and that is not the case. We need to go to show the current situation and the current living conditions of the people who are in that are and why they would need to be moved out from Krooman Lagoon. Belize City is landlocked and there is no place to expand. That is one of the things that the mayor spoke to the PM about. The PM gave his assurance that if there is something that government can do then they will be able to help but he did note that land is a scarcity when it comes to Belize City so we will be looking at area where we will be able to expand the city because that is part of planning and forward planning.”

According to Arnold, the council also has plans to restore the natural habitat of Krooman Lagoon with grant funding from the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre which it has made steps to apply for.