Symposium Highlights Lack of Oversight by Central Building Authority in Belize

One of the highlights coming out of this week’s symposium, hosted by the Belize City Council was the lack of oversight by the Central Building Authority. According to Troy Smith, Operations Officer within the sub-committee responsible for assessments following a natural disaster, there were many lessons learned following Hurricane Lisa in November 2022. He noted that as they conducted assessments on almost 3,000 affected homes, they discovered that many of the affected homes were not constructed in compliance with Belize’s building codes.

Authorities have identified unlicensed contractors and city residents who build their homes themselves out of economic necessity to be at the core of the issue. Smith said that entities such as the Ministry of Infrastructure, Development and Housing as well as the Central Building Authority, are having discussions centered on enforcement of existing laws to address the issue.

The forecast for this year’s hurricane season is for slightly above average activity with 15 names storms, seven hurricanes, with at least three hurricanes reaching strengths of category three or above.