On Friday night's news we told you about the controversy surrounding a parcel of land, #4670 that's being filled at the western end of Seashore Drive in the Buttonwood Bay Area of Belize City. Much of the parcel is over the sea - and it's been a subject of dispute for at least 13 years. That's when area residents first stopped Dion Zabaneh from filling the land - which is in his mother's name. Well, after leaving the project dormant since 2006, Zabaneh started filling again last week - which caused consternation amongst those residents who will see their sea frontage turn into someone's back yard.
After many calls to Belmopan, The Department of the Environment issued a cessation order on the project and went to deliver it at the site on Saturday. And even though Senior environmental officer Jeavon Hulse took police along with him - he could not stop the work. There was an hour long standoof betwene Zabaneh and the DOE official - and after that, the landfill work resumed and trucks keep rolling through.
CEO for the Department of the Environment, Percival Cho today told us that
the verbal order was given, even though the written order was refused. He adds that each day of continued work is a separate offence under the law. He added that DOE would go again to deliver the written order today. We didn't see the DOE truck when we went there, but we did see Sand trucks continue to bring fill for the area. And up to this evening, work continued undeterred.
When we spoke to Dion Zabaneh via phone on Friday, and he told us that they challenged the court injunction from 2006 and won. The injunction was lifted in 2016.
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