Yesterday we took you to the National Assembly where the House of Representatives were debating a $69 million loan motion to rehabilitate the George Price Highway from Belize City to Hattieville. The Opposition criticized the cost of the motion and the cost per mile - which they 4.6 million dollars per mile on an existing highway.
Minister of Infrastructure Development Julius Espat explained that that stretch of road, which is the most highly trafficked highway, is in desperate need of upgrading, especially the Burdon Bridge area. And while 69 million seems excessive for 15 miles of road, Espat explained all the work that will need to go into the rehabilitation.
Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development
"These areas have a significant depth of peat. What is peat? It's mud, organic material that rots over centuries, more than that sometimes. The engineers from OECC have tried to use two or three different methods to try to see if that peat can resist the road that is being built there. They have not been successful in that 400m. So our engineers along with the engineers at OECC along with other foreign independent engineers have come up with a proposal for that 400m that we might have to pile it and cast it as if it was causeway because there is no other option. We are aware of the fact, this is engineering, you encounter these things as you go along, but it is part of the defects liability. and so that's why I mentioned the design build project, it was a project that was approved by the UDP on the basis of a design build concept, the contractor that won the bid designed it, supervised it, and is building it was MIDH's general supervision. So I am giving you a clear and a concise explanation to what you are saying and what you have said is wrong."
"Belize City floods when you have a major rain. But how fast does it take for the flood waters to recede? Compared to how fast it used to recede in the past. You don't analyze that because Belize City, if you don't know, is below water level, sea level, it is a fact. Belize City is not in a mountainous areas, it is below sea level. So this specific project is one of the possible solutions to minimize. How will we minimize it? By draining that section of the highway that you can alleviate the water coming down the Burton Canal before it reaches the city will have a way to escape out to the sea, approximately in the area by old Belize. That will entail, we won't call it bridges but it is, a series of box culverts, a series of drainage to be able to drain that water from the Burton Canal all the way to the sea."
We note that repairing the other 35 miles in 2 sections will reportedly cost 90 million - but those loan motions have yet to be tabled. In total, reports say it will be 159 million to upgrade 50 miles of existing road with bridges.
