New Central Bank officially opens tonight
The Central Bank’s governor and staff have been clamoring for their own building for what seems like decades. Tonight, although surrounded by partisan political controversy, that building is a reality. This morning the press, including News Five’s Patrick Jones, got a tour.
The three story concrete structure will unite all of the Central Bank’s operations under a single roof.
Christine Vellos, Asst. Manager, Administration
“The construction of the building, that includes the design of it, the construction of it, furniture and fittings for the building is presently budgeted at twenty point eight million or around there. The entire project, which includes the restoration of the prison, the cost of our consultancies, our computers, a range of other things that were done to develop the site and are still being done to improve the operations at the bank, come up to about thirty million dollars, which is what the governor told the bank two and a half years ago.”
The thirty million dollars that Vellos says was spent on the building was raised from the floating of bonds on the regional market. In lay man’s terms, that means borrowing, a loan that is to be repaid annually at a rate of eleven point seven five percent interest. According to the Central Bank executive, the institution currently pays out roughly a quarter of a million dollars each year in the rental of office space and that in the long run, owning their own facility will prove cost effective.
Christine Vellos
“I think to assess a project like this you need to look further than what you pay for in rent. The Central Bank has certain important functions to perform and it needs to be able to have certain structures in place in order to enable it to perform those functions satisfactorily. One of the functions of the bank is to have custody of the money supply and supplying it as the economy needs it. I do not want to go into the details of our present arrangements for security reasons, but they are very, very far from satisfactory. So the bank has to be considered in a wider context than just the issue of how much it cost to pay rent, as the money we have used to build the bank. Once we have paid for this bank, well then I suppose the debate will turn to something else.”
Although it’s located directly on the coastline, Vellos says the building is tough enough to stand up to the elements while at the same time improving the ambience of the city.
Christine Vellos
“The building is designed to be very safe. As a mater of fact it is designed to withstand what they call a hundred-year event. That is a major storm or a moderate earthquake. As you can see, as having been through the building that it’s raised fifteen feet above sea level. And so it should be able to withstand surge tides from a hurricane.
We could have built a cheaper building, yes. But we decided that the Central Bank building should not only be a landmark building but one which is… one that the whole country could be proud of. One that is adding to the attractions in Belize City, and one that will not depreciate as fast as something built at cut rate price. I mean the price is extremely good, the quality is very, very good so we think that the building is an excellent investment for the entire nation.”
Apart from its wall to wall carpeting, in-house amenities and impressive view of the Belize City skyline, the building is rigged with state of the art surveillance technology. This, according to Vellos, despite its location in a yard where busting out was the dream of every inmate, makes it impossible for anyone to enter or leave the compound, without being observed. The facility will also have its own standby generator so that if there is an interruption of service from B.E.L., the bank will still be able to function normally.
Q: “The Central Bank of Belize acts as an adviser to government when it comes to investment. Couldn’t the bank have taken some of its own advise and invested more wisely in a building that would have been cheaper and yet given you the same standard of efficiency?”
Christine Vellos
“I think you’re making a very big assumption there. Having worked on this project nearly from the time it began, I can say from what I know that this building represents value for money. We went out to tender and we chose a contractor at the time the international construction market was in a slump. I believe that anybody who has any serious knowledge about the cost of construction will testify that we have gotten a splendid building for a very economical price.”
As for the cost of operating the building, including the monthly electricity bill for its massive air conditioners, Mrs. Vellos would not offer a guess. Patrick Jones for News Five.
A gala ceremony for the bank is taking place tonight, although the furniture and staff are not expected to make the move until the end of September at the earliest. Contractor for the construction project was Kier International.
