Email

Print

As you just heard, there are concerns about who will manage it, and who will get to use it, and at what cost. He said that once the Civic is officially opened, BIL and the contractors will have an open day where all will be illuminated:

Hon. Patrick Faber - DPM/ Minister of Education
"Because of the buzz on the social media about the cost of the Belize Civic Center, we will do an open day. We will announce the date of that shortly, and we will invite anybody who is concerned - and when I say anybody, that means anybody who wants to come - to special day that we will set aside, and we will do hourly tours and explain. But, we will hold a special briefing by the BIL officials, and also the engineers, the contractors, to explain just as much as in layman's terms as possible, why it is that the Center is costing what it is costing. And so that Belizeans can see for themselves, what is in it, which we are sure of in our minds, is value for money. We will also at that time try to share with the Belizean population as best as we can, why we feel there is the need for a management company take on the running - the day to day running - of the Belize Civic Center."

"People have seen a major amount of money being invested in that Civic center, and you know how we are. Sometimes, we don't take the best care of things, and we often see monies that are invested like that go down the drain, or we see that we have to come back in short order to fix things all over again. So, it's out of an abundance of trying to ensure the sustainability of the Civic Center."

"I want to assure Belizeans though that the Government and BIL is doing its best that the sporting disciplines of volleyball and basketball know that that facility is for them for national play, and international play as well. And we want to ensure as well that the Belizean population understands that the social uses of the facility will be guaranteed with any kind of management company that we engage with."

The contractors had promised a completion date for the civic in September - but now it looks more like December - which is when it was promised to be completed from the outset.