Municipal Boundaries to be Redrawn Across the Country  

It’s been over three decades since the municipal boundaries for several towns, including Corozal, Orange Walk, San Pedro, Dangriga, San Ignacio and Benque Viejo, have been expanded.  In fact, the last exercise that was conducted by the Ministry of Local Government was to delineate the boundaries of Hopeville and Punta Gorda Town.  Both communities are adjacent to each other.  In the weeks ahead, a series of meetings will be held to sensitize the public on what is being put forward as a municipal boundaries re-delineation exercise.  The initiative has been long in the making, and Cabinet has given the go ahead for consultations to begin.  Clifford King is the Director of Local Government.

 

Clifford King, Director of Local Government

“Cabinet has approved that the proposal goes to public sensitization and so that’s what we are embarking to do beginning next week.  We are going to bring this to the attention of general public that this is the new consideration for the municipal boundary and what are the implications of this.  How is this going to impact municipal development and the obligations of the municipality to provide services?  But also, from a resident and a business perspective, what are the implications for you as residents.  And so we are going to be having these discussions in the public and town hall meetings starting next week in Dangriga, Monday, and we are hoping that residents will turn out to be apprised of what is being proposed. Municipal boundaries, as they currently exist, really date back to a very long time, as a matter of fact to the 1980s and 1990s.  The most recently updated municipal boundary was for Punta Gorda Town and you may remember when the Hopeville Community was established and that was then taken into account.  But for the other six municipalities, namely Corozal, Orange Walk, San Pedro, Benque Viejo, San Ignacio and Dangriga, those boundaries go back to the 1980s and the 1990s.  What has happened over the years, naturally the space around these municipalities have grown naturally.  Expansion has naturally come for residential and commercial purposes and for industrial purposes.”