UDP Condemns New Hospital Site, Calls for UB Campus Development

As the UDP’s Deputy August belittles the value and importance of sign language, the party has also come out condemning the land acquired in Belmopan for the construction of a new hospital.  Today, the United Democratic Party issued a release calling on the government to reserve the decision and build the hospital on UB’s campus. The party argues that the development of UB’s land will bring much-needed growth for the university’s campus and residents of the surrounding area. The opposition argues that the government has yet to allay the concerns of skeptics and claims the deal involves corruption. However, the Minister of Health and Wellness Kevin Bernard says the Briceno Administration has been transparent and denied the allegations.

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness: “I mean, I said it earlier, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. This is no sweetheart deal. This is open, transparent, transaction that took place. If you look at, if this was any secret deal you think all these technocrats would have been involved in the process? This was done through an open process. It went to the cabinet. The cabinet made the ministry, the technical people. We took the community paper to say we need to get a better land. It went. The decision was made to recommend to the Ministry of Natural Resources to find adequate land. That’s where the land was. The ministry decided, yes, we accept that this is the best location. And it went through its necessary processes. Valuations were done both by the private sector as I said from what the ministry is explaining. The ministry did its own valuation. They came up with an agreed valuation price that the owner was willing to sell the property for. At end of the day, the focus is that we will have a tertiary teaching hospital that will provide not only tertiary care services but also secondary care services for the general population of the Belma Panera and its surroundings and to the people who come and need tertiary care services that are referred from the south and from the other section of the west.”

Do you know the landowners whom government purchased it from? 

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness: “I have no idea who those people are. Like I said, I don’t know where the question is coming from. But… I have no idea who the owner was. All I know is that, as in the document that was revealed, it’s some Chinese person, some Chinese businessman that owned the land and government decided to acquire the land.”

The opposition insists that the sewage treatment ponds located five acres away from the land will pose a health risk.