Yesterday, we told you about the internal report from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing that spoke about the deteriorated state that the Swing and BelCan Bridges were in. The fear is that these bridges will give way while pedestrians and motorists are crossing, causing major injuries and even death.
Today the Minister, Julius Espat, told us more:
Hon. Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development
"I had commissioned the engineers from the ministry to do an analysis of all the bridges in Belize City. A couple friends of mine that are fishermen that traverse the river on a constant basis were telling me that come and have a look. So they did an analysis of the 3 bridges; Swing bridge, BelChina and BelCan and the report that you've seen is the report that they sent to us. I took that report to cabinet and I requested permission to do a feasibility study. We are presently doing a feasibility study to complete the George Price Highway from Belize City to Belmopan. There was some World Bank analysis done many year ago that indicated that there is a major problem in the potential flooding in Belize City by the Burton Canal and by Hattieville. As you have seen that road flood quite easily. So we are doing a feasibility study. I got the opportunity to insert the three bridges as a part of the feasibility and that's why the initial report was done. Now that we have gotten the approval, the engineers are now working on a preliminary design to be able to come up with the first estimates. Of the three bridges, the BelChina is the best; that needs like normal maintenance - painting and stuff like that. The second is Swing Bridge in how it is holding up. The Belize City Council had done some work a couple years ago and that alleviated it a bit, but it is just like a band-aid effect. The major one is the BelCan."
Reporter
"Swing bridge, they did say that busses should stop crossing it and that we were somehow on the brink of some disaster that could happen."
Hon. Julius Espat
"It's more for the BelCan than the Swing. We will have to make a proposal as to that. Yes the buses and heavy traffic is what they are referring to; it does create more stress on these structures and so we are trying to mitigate it to a point where nobody gets hurt. But if you are looking at the three bridges, priority number one is BelCan at this point in time, priority number two is Swing Bridge and we will deal with the BelChina with the resources that we have in house presently. We are also doing the Hawksworth, we are doing refurbishment, we are scraping, painting and maintaining that one presently and there is also a bridge that we are doing right now in the Belmopan area going to Salvapan. That one is in the process of being done and you're all aware that we are doing the Haulover presently also."
