And while that story only covered the plans for Special Development Area - you don't need to be a news junky to know that there's a whole lot in that same area that's very controversial.
First, there's the Lake I Boulevard of broken pavement - which is a saga unto itself. Then there's the Lake I Resource Center - construction of which has stalled completely, and it now stands dormant and incomplete, a monument to wastage and contractor incompetence. It should have been opened two years ago, but the Contractor: Wood, Brick and Stone has now pulled out - and the job of finishing it falls to BIL. Mastry told us they plan to finish it by the end of the year:..
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Its a resource center for the youths of Lake I and it's not finish. Its stuck. What's happening to the building across the street which falls into your special development area, even though BIL was not the contractor on that project."
Christy Mastry
"You've caught me out here so now I'm forced to answer. Though its challenging for me to comment on anything that's happened prior, it's a CDB project being done with the ministry of human development. I know that they've had challenges with the contractor and unfortunately they've made a final decision which I think was the smartest one, admitting that they needed to part ways. The contractor didn't have the capacity to fulfil the final obligations of the job, so what has happened now is that they have come to Belize Infrastructure Limited, particularly because we are in the area and have ask us to do a full assestment. So we've look at the budget that they still have remaining which is a very good thing. CDB is often very tight on their disbursements which allow us to still have funds in play. What we are going to do is CBD will do direct payments to the Sub-contractors that we are going to hire for particulars traits that need to be completed. We have some minor grey works and a lot of it is in the interior finish out: the built out of the walls, some of the glass, a lot of electrical, tweaking some of the air conditioning and connecting some of the plumbing. So the MEP is the focus of the interior. As you can see its an elegant building from the exterior. It's very large, it is a very generous space. Once its open and we ar4e hoping that within the next 3-5 months. It's going to be an exceptional amenity for the Lake Independence area. So I really think that out of that tragedy we will have to make good and we will by the end of this year."
Tomorrow, we'll have more from Mastry as we discuss the possible plans for the Lake I Boulevard of broken pavement.
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