Another mandate of the Ministry is picking up the construction work that the UDP left behind. This includes the Caracol Road, which the PUP were adamantly against before taking office. Minister Espat explained that while he still does not believe it is a priority, the work must continue because there is no simple way out.
Jules Vasquez
"The PUP made grand statement that we're going to redirect funds, this is a road to nowhere, but when you get in there you find out it's a significant project, and we were on the road earlier and it's a massive, spectacular highway. How are you going to stop that?"
Hon. Julius Espat - Minister of Infrastructure, Housing, and Development
"You can't stop it."
Jules Vasquez
"You can't stop it so Is that something you've learned because you all kept saying we're going to stop it."
Hon. Julius Espat
"Well I still want to. Why am I saying this? The people at the time, the policy makers that decided that this was a priority I believe was an erroneous proposal, it was not a priority, it is still not a priority. I believe they are more important roads that could have been done to help the agro-productive sector. That's my humble opinion. So, I was given the mandate as the Minister of infrastructure to go in to see what we will do, that was a mandate that was given to us at the first Cabinet meeting. So we spoke to the lending institution."
Jules Vasquez
"Which is the Kwaite Fund and the OPEC Fund."
Hon. Julius Espat
"And we told the listen to me, we don't want to continue the latter phases, because they had already given out 1a and 1b, that is the Georgeville to San Antonio loop."
Jules Vasquez
"That's about 16 miles and another 4 miles right, 4.5."
Hon. Julius Espat
"And so the lending institution wrote back to us categorically stating that you can't stop a project, you can, but I you stop it then it puts you in the... in the eyes of them they won't lend you money in the future. And it takes maybe about approximately 5 to 8 years to be put back on the list again. Now you have to understand the Kwaite and the OPEC fund have been partners with Belize for a long time. And they are offering the best rates."
Jules Vasquez
"2%!"
Hon. Julius Espat
"So, what we did is saying you know what we can't stop it, it will have a long-term effect with Belize so we said we can't stop it but can we renegotiate the terms."
And in the renegotiation, the ministry is planning to save millions of dollars. He explained how that will be possible.
Jules Vasquez
"So, what type of savings have you all got from that?"
Hon. Julius Espat
"28 million dollars we have saved."
Jules Vasquez
"And what will be done with those funds?"
Hon. Julius Espat
"We just won't borrow it. You won't draw it down but then if you save 28 million, that is, if you look at the value of the whole contract that's 28 million from the last half I'm saying are you now skimping on the project. As you are the size of the road was far more than any road width that we have in the country. And the devastation of the environment we believe was far-fetched, was too much, and so what we did was reduce the width of the road to the width that we drive on the western and norther highway, which is the accepted width."
Jules Vasquez
"So, you have not turned a superhighway into a picado."
Hon. Julius Espat
"No, and the bridges that were originally designed, we did not change. So that was one phase, we adjusted the scope of work and then we negotiated rates. So, it was a combination of things."
