Maya Beach, at Mile 15 on the Placencia peninsula is a small expatriate community lined with high end resorts and luxury homes owned by mostly US and Canadian retirees. Really it's within the village boundaries of Seine Byte - but because of the concentration of wealth and high value real estate in that little enclave - Maya Beach has its own domain.
And that's what caught our attention when we saw a major sidewalk project leading out of that community headed south towards Seine Byte. On the Monday Morning Beef Jules Vasquez said that it looked like the most expensive sidewalk he'd ever seen - tonight he has more information:
Jules Vasquez, Beef
"Per square foot. I suspect it's the most expensive sidewalk I have ever seen. Why? Because it now includes bridges. There are pedestrian bridges over the culverts, etc."
But the MIDH says it's not that expensive; they say it is a fair value. The contract is for 1.309 million dollars for the Maya Beach to Seine Bight Bike Path awarded to PEC Consultants, a company owned by Pete Lizarraga and Sons. The 2.08 miles was put out to tender - two bids were received, and the contract was awarded to the lower bidder after sign offs from the contractor general and the Ministry of Finance.
It works out to 6,750 square meters of sidewalk for $1.3 million dollars - which works out to about $18 per square foot - which experts say is reasonable by industry standards.
It is being called by the MIDH - "a strategically important infrastructure project" designed to address long-standing issues related to road safety, community mobility, and sustainable development along this stretch of the Placencia Peninsula. Of course, by that standard there should be sidewalks on ALL highways passing through communities and it is not clear why this one was prioritized.
But we also note that the Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing Julius Espat's daughter owns a boutique resort in Maya Beach. Speaking to us by phone he acknowledged that but said the sidewalk has no real effect on his family's resort which he said is technically a guest house. He says the sidewalk came about after meetings in Seine Byte and Placencia where the concern was that there were too many tourists walking on the road between the villages where there wasn't enough space for them to walk.
The CEO told us that project came out of community concerns in Placencia - who felt that increasingly guests were staying further north on the peninsula - and this was a way - as he explained it - to make it easier for them to get to the village. He says -when finance is available -the MIDH plans to take the sidewalk all the way to the village - which is about 7 miles. The sidewalk has arrived in Seine Byte now.
Minister Espat says he hopes that BTB assists as the project moves towards Placencia village.
To their credit, documents for the story were provided to us upon request and without delay from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing.
