Council’s power to co-ordinate activities of utility agencies

(1) Without prejudice to any other powers conferred on the Council by this Act or any other law, the Council shall have the power and responsibility of coordinating the activities and operations of all utility agencies and property developers within the City of Belmopan with respect to the excavation and restoration of streets, canals, creeks and other public rights of way, with the object of preventing damage to the City infrastructure and minimizing the disruption of utility services to the City of Belmopan. (2) Where any damage or injury to the infrastructure of the City of Belmopan is caused by a utility agency or the Council in the excavation and restoration of any public road, street, canal, creek and other public right of way, the Council shall be responsible, subject to sub-section (3) to make good such damage or injury and to restore the infrastructure to a good state of general repair. (3) Where the Council incurs extraordinary expenses in repairing the infrastructure by reason of the damage or injury to any street, road, canal, creek and other right of public way caused under sub-section (2) or by excessive weight passing along such street, road, canal, creek or other right of public way or extraordinary traffic thereon, the Council may recover the expense from any person by whose order such damage or injury has been caused, as a civil debt in any summary jurisdiction court. 35 (4) For the purpose of sub-section (1), the Council may make By-Laws to control and regulate the activities and operations of utility agencies. (5) There shall be established within the administration of the Belmopan City Council a Utility Co-ordination Unit with power to ensure effective coordination between all utility agencies and to enforce By-Laws made pursuant to sub-section (4). (6) In this section, the expression “utility agencies” means all corporations, companies, and entities which provide electricity, water and sewerage, telephone, tele-fax, gas, and other utility services. (7) The provisions of this section shall have effect notwithstanding the provisions of any other law to the contrary but shall be exercised subject to the provisions of the Public Utilities Act. CAP. 223.