Tensions Rise in Indian Creek Village Over Incomplete Solar Project Inauguration

Last night we told you of the tensions in Indian Creek Village over the inauguration of a solar project scheduled for October 12.  The alcalde and some of the residents are not in agreement with the inauguration as only an estimated seventy homes have been connected, leaving over a hundred homes pending connection.  According to the alcalde and a villager, this is the basis of their rejection of the date as they believe the project should be fully completed prior to the inauguration.

Jose Choc, Indian Creek Village Alcalde: “I am the Alcalde. I don’t want my village left behind because I see right now in my community of Indian Creek they are not completing their job because we signed the agreement. We signed the agreement to be completed. Only the 13 people were connected and the rest they left behind and this is… I’m not happy with that. I don’t want an inauguration with this they have to complete it first and then we will have an inauguration with that.” 

“There have been many concerns from residents within Indian Creek who have expressed dissatisfaction in the contractors not being able to visit their homes, establishing how their power lines will be connected inside their homes. One of their major concerns for those who have been wired is that the outlets they are to receive have been placed directly under the breaker box for their connection, which is very much inconvenient for these residents. Also another concern that has been brought to the attention of the council as well as the Alcalde are those living inland that will require maybe two or three additional posts which BEL is saying it needs approval from the Public Utilities Ministry to be able to carry out these works.”

After hours of tensions, a vote was taken that saw the majority being in favor of the inauguration slated for next Thursday.  In addition to voting for the event, the villagers also voted to have the Alcalde removed.  The village chairman, Ernesto Choc, received nil support from the villagers with all voting for him to be removed.  One member of the village council, however, indicated that yesterday’s meeting was not the proper forum for such a vote.

“We have a total of 74 that voted in favor for the inauguration to proceed. A total of 9 had said no. So the majority has won in this case with a number of 64. The community has given its consensus for the go ahead for the inauguration. The community had requested for the removal of the Alcalde. The community,  community did you want removal of the Alcalde ? So the total people who signed, the people of Indian Creek that put their signature, these people signed a total of 94 had said yes and zero had said no. So we have 94 signatures in favor to remove the Alcalde.”

“At this moment now they say that they are interested in the removal of the Alcalde. But as you can see, there’s more than half of our community who has not signed the consent paper. It’s only 74 I’ve heard but I tell you in this community we have over 240 and then with the population with the 18 years old we have approximately about maybe 700 to 800 populations. This is not the right process. As you can see, we are under the Alcalde Association, the Toledo Alcalde Association so then we need a right process. So at this moment, the village council is asking the community to make their decision, which this is not the right time and it’s not the right process.”

The inauguration is being led by the Ministry of Rural Transformation.