In The San Pedro Sun’s March 3rd, 2005 issue, Mayor Elsa Paz and Belize Rural South Area Representative Manuel Heredia Jr. both expressed their displeasure in the Government of Belize’s decision to sell two parcels of government property on Ambergris Caye. One of the properties was the Mar de Tumbo access road. It was reported that ¾ of this road had been sold to San Pedro investor Seferino Paz Jr. of Banyan Bay Villas.
After the article was published, the People’s United Party (PUP) Executive Committee placed a call to Minister of Natural Resources, Honorable Johnny Briceño to put the sale on hold, which he did.
However, on May 17th, The Sun placed a call to Eiden Salazar Jr., PUP Executive Chairman and chairman of the San Pedro Lands Committee, and found out that the Mar de Tumbo access road is indeed in the process of being sold. According to Salazar, the PUP had halted the application since they were not aware of what all was being sold. After stopping the sale, they discovered that what was being sold was just the access road and that it would leave a 10-foot breach to the beach. However, the space left for traffic will now be 16 feet. They also took into consideration Mr. Paz’s huge investment and what he stood to lose if the sale did not go through and after weighing all options, decided to facilitate the sale. Salazar commented, “Yes, the land is in the process of getting sold.”
Honorable Heredia commented that for the past few weeks he has been trying to set up a meeting with Minister Briceño but has been unable to arrange a “get-together.” The Sun called Minister Briceño to get confirmation, but as of press time, our calls have not been returned .
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