The press also asked the Prime Minister about a land controversy that erupted in the Placencia area.
The issue is that Government sold 15 acres inside the Placencia Lagoon to Dominique Gomez, the girlfriend of Gaspar Vega's Vega's son, and other acreages to UDP insiders connected to Vega - all this just days before last year's general election.
Today the Prime Minister said that Cabinet has directed the return of the lands to the Government of Belize:
Prime Minister Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize
"The Minister of Lands was instructed to in fact reverse the transactions even if it required compulsory acquisition because I think at that point, title had already been awarded. I have been informed that in fact, those reversals have taken place."
Jules Vasquez
"And those people have been compensated?"
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"The compensation has not yet been worked out."
Jules Vasquez
"Will they be compensated at market value or purchase price?"
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"Well, if we take the case of William Arthur Lindo, who was given Belizean Beach, the headquarters for the Coast Guard, for I think the princely some sold by the last government for princely sum of $44,000, and who just got judgment from the Supreme Court from the Lands Compensation Tribunal for something like in excess of $800,000, that answers your question. Compensation under law has to be on the basis of market value. Now, the purposes for which the villagers said they required back the land had to with a reserve. So, I am not too sure that the market value would be as steep as it otherwise might have been. These, as I understand, form parts of mangrove type Cayes, so I would hope that the market value would not be anything like we saw in the case of William Arthur."
The land is for mangrove islands within the Placencia Lagoon. No final re-purchase price has been determined as yet.
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