And the area rep for Mesopotamia, Shyne Barrow, supported the party leader. He flung a famous phrase that the PUP has long used against the UDP - "the people can't eat streets." And he added that in these pandemic times where unemployment is at an all time high and people are having trouble putting food on the table, that perhaps the money should go to human development.
Hon. Shyne Barrow, UDP Mesopotamia
"The people did not vote for the UDP, because as you so well put it, all we want to do was built roundabouts and build roads to nowhere. The infrastructure ministry got the most money or the second most money in the budget. They don't need any more monies. The human development ministry and even education, so that is my problem, we continue to focus where we shouldn't focus and where you promise that you wouldn't focus. There is no way in PlanBelize manifesto that talks about any infrastructure, because you on the other side condemned building streets that we can't eat and right now people are starving more than ever. Back then we had a normal economy, normal challenges. We are in a pandemic and the bodies that are dropping in this country is a result of the irresponsible management of the human development disaster and we see this with the supplementary where there is no consideration for the human suffering that is taking place in this country, but all we see is continued investments in streets that we cannot eat."
But the Minister of Infrastructure stood up to defend the construction that has gone into the roads and bridges that the PUP has built.
Hon. Julius Espat, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure
"Most of the projects that have been mentioned are projects that we inherited in the pipeline; the caracol road for example is one of them, so it's not a project that was initiated by us, but in reality, it is a project that we saved 28 million dollars on. the other one is the Haulover Bridge, again a project that we inherited from you all, but look at the figures, we saved another 28 million dollars on that project by looking and analyzing the project and so in reality we have saved approximately 56 million dollars just on those 2 project, leader of the opposition."
"And then we are looking at the importance of infrastructure. I can understand what the member from Mesop is repeating and repeating about you can't eat streets and stuff like that, but the truth is the economy relies on the infrastructure of a country to be able to move forward and what we are doing is the basic necessity. I would like him to drive in Belama Phase 4, I did it 2 days ago, so he can see the need for infrastructure. I would like him to visit the Lake Independence area which I did 2 day ago, so he can feel the need. It is difficult to understand these situations when you are abroad and when you are wining and dining on Hennessey and all that type of stuff. That does not allow you to understand and appreciate the reality of the people that we try to serve and I am not even speaking of the sugar roads, we don't even have enough resources right now to be able to address the sugar roads the way they need to be address and so I am just humbly explaining to the member from Mesop that there are realities that we have to deal with and those are some of them."
