The Belmopan City Council held official inaugural ceremony for the City of Belmopan's new cemetery. The soon to be utilized burial site is located behind Maya Mopan and sits on eleven acres of land. The council acquired the land from RECONDEV as the Belmopan Cemetery that has been utilized over the past years was fast running out of grave spots and at last count only 5 more spots were available. Mrs. Barbara Ramos a senior resident of Belmopan gave some opening remarks at this afternoons ceremony.

Barbara Ramos, Resident of Belmopan
It is comforting to know that we are living in a time when it is clearly visible that our leaders, both national and local are prepared to do whatever they can to help us. They are willing to show all of us that they will provide for our every need, every single need in Belmopan, regardless of race, creed or character. Our leaders have shown that they are prepared to provide for the citizens of Belmopan, from the cradle to the grave. In other words, from birth to the time the good Lord is ready for us. For years, Belmopan has been growing and has been in need of another cemetery; it has been in the books for a long time. Now finally, because of hard work and a committed leadership, it is a reality.

Mayor Simeon Lopez then addressed the crowd present at today's inaugural ceremony.

Simeon Lopez, Mayor, Belmopan
The Belmopan City Council realizes that the present cemetery is now almost out of commission, except for a few spaces that people have reserved already and so with the cooperation of the Reconstruction and Development Cooperation, we were able to secure this eleven acre plus parcel of land to serve as the new Belmopan cemetery. What we have cleared down is just about three acres; we are using one-third of what we have. The plan and the design calls for sections of this cemetery, because there are some people who will want to go in tombs and there are some people who will desire to have their relatives go in vaults and there are those who would require that their relatives just go under the ground, as per usual. So the council has sectioned off this cemetery to accommodate those requests. In other words, where there are tombs, they will be no vaults or no one just buried under the ground. The design also calls for an Ecumenical Chapel to be built here in the cemetery. This is because this plot is about two miles from any of the churches in the Belmopan centre area.

In October of last year, the Council had launched a campaign for the naming of the new cemetery. Belmopan Memorial Garden was the selection out of the many names submitted and Carlene Humes who submitted that name told us why and how she came up with Belmopan Memorial Garden.

Carlene Humes

We know that it is not easy to lose someone we love in death, because we share our lives with and love that person and we know that they will always be a part of us. So when I thought about this name, 'Belmopan Memorial Garden,' it is memorial because we will always cherish them and remember that we share our life and love with person and 'Garden because it is a tranquil environment in which we place our loved ones - so Belmopan Memorial Garden.

While pricing has not been set as yet, the Mayor stated they have drafted up an orderly layout for the cemetery which is expected to be utilized soon.

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