Touring the Mollejon Dam

This week Vernon Jantzi is in the middle of Sustainable Community Development, a class that looks at different development paradigms and approaches. One of Belize's development projects is the construction of 3 dams on the Macal River. We went to visit the Mollejon Dam, the second dam in the series of 3, and were able to view the dam itself, the control room, and the generators below.

The development of these dams has been the focus of much controversy in Belize. A sizeable area of sensitive riparian forest has been flooded, including one of the last remaining nesting sites of the near extinct Scarlet Macaw. The dam construction was first billed at 30 million US dollars, but upon completion will be closer to 100 million US dollars. This money will head back to Canada because Fortis, the company building the dam, is a Canadian company. Fortis has contracted a Chinese construction company to build it. They have contracted Nepalese workers and are paying them far lower than the already low minimum wage in Belize. This is the third biggest development project in the history of Belize. We went to the dam to tour it, hear the guide, and ask our questions to help us better understand this project.