Harmonyville ready but applicants still haven’t paid for survey
The Belize Grass Roots Youth Empowerment Agency, BGYEA, has made strides as a small home grown organization which plans big things for the community. It has launched well attended conferences about the crime situation in both the old and current capital. BGYEA has successfully lobbied the government to reclaim land between mile forty one and forty-two on the Western Highway for redistribution. However, to survey the one thousand three hundred and twenty-two acres of what has been dubbed the future site for Harmonyville, costs more than a quarter million dollars. And though the organization has made many public pleas for eight hundred successful applicants to receive an acre of land, many of them have not coughed up the four hundred dollars for the survey. This afternoon BGYEA’s executive stopped by our studios to announce a meeting scheduled for Sunday in which they will offer some of the land to new applicants.
Nigel Petillo, President, BGYEA
nigel petillo
“We are appealing to the recipients, those who have seen their names on the list to make their payments. The survey has to get done; we have to do di survey and dat dah di position weh wi deh right now. We had mentioned at the beginning of July that by end of August we should have already paid the four hundred dollars; if not at least have something paid deh. Right now we deh dah di point weh di survey have to get done. What we even mentioned form that point was that for those who haven’t made any payment toward their survey expense is dah like unnu di tell we yow we noh got time fi deal wid unnu right now so we wah put yoh pan standby fi di meantime and mek way fi di other three thousand plus people weh deh pan standby right now fi get wah position and get wah piece ah land dah Harmonyville. We’re at a pace, we di move. We want move in right now. We need land, we need to develop. Also, we have found more land. We di research pan more land right now eena di area.”
Jose Sanchez
“People outside the eight hundred can apply for this original piece of Harmonyville land?”
David Barnett, Vice President, BGYEA
“Dat dah weh we di work pan right now fi di people dehn cause yoh find dat we end up di select eight hundred people. Ih come to wah final figure and we had three thousand and more other people weh mi done register already. So we find more land. Weh BGYEA di seh is dat we wah find more land. We noh di stop yah. We intend fi everybody get wah piece ah dis Jewel, especially Belizeans. And dah noh like we just di give yoh wah land, we di give yoh wah land wid wah plan.”
Nigel Petillo
“Sunday we di have wah big meeting fi discuss di new land weh wi find and also those who haven’t been paying and as a community, as a people together, as members of BGYEA, let’s see how we could move forward wid di situation weh wi deh right now. Those who noh di pay, how we discuss the removal of those names pan standby and how we get the transparency on the go. Sunday, ten o’clock, mile forty-one. Dah wah serious situation right now fi those who deh out deh weh di holla well I neva get pan di list and I gone out deh so much time den dah wah break again.”
This really should not be a problem for poor people in Belize the government have surveyors working for them why can’t they do the survey considering that these people can’t afford, the least they can do is to have the survey done and apply a lien on the property that if it is ever sold then the government can be paid from the proceeds. Come on Belize government make life easier for your people when you can or do you rather the crime situation so that the attention of your poor performance can be drawn away from you.
Why don’t they survey all of the property first? divide it into specific size, shape, streets. properly map it out then ask the recipients to pay for it or lose it.
peace
OMG!!! You can’t be serious. These guys should take a urinalysis for drugs. Harmonyville my …. To me this sounds like a front for themselves. Apperance and presentation is half the battle.
Nigel, if they haven’t paid but you were able to reach them on their cell phones, that tells you what their priorities are. I will repeat what I said before, if they are unwilling or unable to pay now, they cannot afford to build. While I am a firm believer in neighborhood diversity, you need to incorporate minimum building sizes & standards & require occupancy within a specific time frame to make sure this community becomes the standard for new, affordable housing.
illegal land acquisition ??? is this the way we do things in Belize now?? if so there are a couple pieces of unoccupied prime property around Belmopan I have my eyes on. just saying Govt needs to put these guys and all other squatters in check ASAP. Squatting is illegal and is not a victim less crime.
Nigel, you promised land to the people that could not afford to buy land from the government because the price is too high for these poor people, and now they cannot afford to pay the price for this piece of land either, abviously the price is still to hight for them to afford.This is a problem.
What are these people thinking now?
bet they thought the land would be free for everyone.
It is only fair that you give the land to the people who can afford the land right now, and put those that cannot pay for their land on standby.
Good luck.
Rizzo………why you discriminating?? Are you sure it’s the lenght of their locks or is it the color of their skin that’s bothering you? Why you so negative. For once we have young BLACK men doing upbuilding and positive things, not only for themselves but possibly for thousands of others, and here you are asking for a piss test.
What!!!!……… you think they are the only ones in authority that need to have a drug test?? Maybe you prefer the fact that rich foreigners are buying up Belizean real estate like hot johnny cake and making poor people become like Aliens without a piece of their Birthright. Is that what you want to see??
Rootsman, I agree with you. Government have the Surveyors that they can assign to parcel out that piece of land with reasonable cost to the prospective buyer. I don’t know who’s price that is but I can’t imagine paying more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in costs to Public servants to do that job. But then again the way things have been going………..
Rizzo ……… DON’T LET THE DREADS SCARE YOU!!!! That’s why they call it “dreads”. Get pass that and you’ll find real people!!!!
At…….Rizzo. I have dread locks but you know something i know im more educated than you.
Pettillo and his crowd need to stop their nonsense….private owners need to protect…..
thanks for the comments, we strongly believe in wat we are doing and will continue to do so!!!