And while the upgrade works on the Coastal Road moves forward, the Ministry of Rural Transformation, Community Development, Labour and Local Government, is focusing on improving the lives of residents of the rural areas of the country.
Multiple projects are being rolled out which focus on providing better access to education and drinking water in communities in different parts of the country, such as Crique Jute and San Antonio in Toledo, Mahogany Heights at the edge of the Belize District, and Chunox Village in Corozal.
Last week, Minister Oscar Requena and his CEO, Valentino Shal, visited several of those projects in the south. With video provided by the Government Press Office, here's what they had to say about these rural development projects:
Valentino Shal, CEO, Ministry of Rural Transformation
"We saw 3 projects today; 2 water projects and 1 education project. Under my ministry and the ministry of rural transformation we deal mainly with the water projects."
Hon. Oscar Requena
"At the ministry of rural transformation, community development, local development and labour - as been putting much emphasis on ensuring that our people have access to potable water, to clean safe drinking water and that is why over the last 6 months our ministry has placed a lot of emphasis on ensuring that we drill new wells for water systems and in many villages, we have also installed hand water pumps to ensure that people have clean water. that is very important to us."
Valentino Shal
"This is only 2 of several multiple projects happening all at the same time throughout the country and I feel very fortunate that we were able to visit these ones today, because it gives us a sense of what the need is for the people and whether or not we are doing the things that they need in their lives and that will benefit them significantly."
Hon. Oscar Requena
"We are in the process of rehabilitating the Sarteneja water system. We are also going to be doing work on Mahogany Heights, San Antonio here in Toledo, we are also going to be working in Xunox and so we have several other areas across the country that we have been working on."
Valentino Shal
"We are trying to advance the basics: access to clean potable water, access to education is important for rural development, for communities and the people who live in these areas and so we need to ensure that we have adequate facilities to provide these services so that we can train and build the capacity of rural residents in the country."
Hon. Oscar Requena
"We do recognize that we are living in some very difficult economic times, but we have a mandate as a ministry to ensure that we continue to provide support particularly in the area of water. We also putting a lot of emphasis on rural development."
According to Minister Requena, his team is currently working on the Ministry's strategic plan for the needs of rural communities.
