19 new houses for Port Loyola
The first phase of a new housing project on Jane Usher Boulevard in the Port Loyola area was inaugurated this afternoon. Nineteen low-income houses have been constructed in an area where previously London bridges were the order of the day. Area Representative Dolores Balderamos Garcia told News 5’s Stewart Krohn that the homes represent just the start of the neighbourhood’s revitalisation.
Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Area Rep., Port Loyola
“Two years ago where we were standing right now was raw mangrove bush. So even before we started putting down one foundation, this place had to be properly filled. And so each unit costs in the region of fifteen thousand.”
Stewart Krohn
“Does that include the fill?”
Dolores Balderamos Garcia
“No. Twenty thousand will include the fill, so you’re looking at about for or five thousand dollars worth of fill. So the total cost is about twenty thousand per unit. But the payback is not more than one seventy-eight.”
Stewart Krohn
“It’s the dry season now, and the houses, I must say look pretty good. You can walk, but we all know that when the rains come this neighbourhood is going to look quite different. Now when your government first came to office I can recall the Minister of Housing himself saying it doesn’t make sense to build more houses and put more people in the swamp. But it seems that’s precisely what you’re doing, putting more people in the swamps around Belize City. It this a proper strategy?”
Dolores Balderamos Garcia
“I would say yes. I don’t consider that we’re putting people in swamp. The point is that a lot of people were in this area from the get go, and I think that if we can provide reasonable units in this area, you do have some possibility for development. We definitely aren’t going to pass the sewerage lagoon because there’s a block there, but I want to believe that with proper strategy we can develop this area and get rid of the London bridges and at least in the immediate vicinity.”
Stewart Krohn
“Lately it looks like you’re the favourite whipping girl for the Opposition party, particularly when it comes to housing in this area. You have the case with Miss Beeks and Cherry Middleton, do you want to give us an update on those particular cases?”
Dolores Balderamos Garcia
“There’s not much of an update to give because it’s typical Opposition nastiness. We have been trying very hard and sometimes it’s what you call Hobson’s choice, do you leave a house until somebody dies because it has fallen down on top of people, or do you try to help? I know in the case of Cherry Middleton…Barbara Beek’s house is being built right now, but in the case of Cherry Middleton, we wonder whether she will accept the kind offer of help from Dickie Bradley. I would just like to mention that in politics one’s shoulders has to be very, very broad. If I get distracted by a few attacks here and there, I don’t think we would have accomplished something like this today.”
In phase two of the project government hopes to assist the homeowners with plastering and additional amenities.
