Philip Goldson Highway and Remate Bypass Upgrading Projects Completed 

On Wednesday, the Government of Belize celebrated the full completion of the Philip Goldson Highway and Remate Bypass Upgrading Project.  According to the Briceño administration, the project has positively impacted the lives of approximately forty-five thousand Belizeans in the Corozal, Orange Walk, and Belize districts. The Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing is being hailed for saving fifteen million dollars on the project, while completing it before its deadline. The inauguration marks the end of a three-year, ninety-three million dollar project. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

The Remate Bypass Upgrading Project has been completed. The ninety-three-million-dollar road was officially inaugurated at a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon. Prime Minister John Briceno was present at the event.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Why is this road important? Well first of all it connects us internationally to Mexico. Secondly it is about agriculture. All the products produced in the north, now that they can use this road. But also because it connects to Mexico and we are now importing more and more into Mexico, cattle, coconut, shrimps. WE are looking at exporting other products. It plays a significant role for us to be able to compete internationally. Most importantly for the people that live in this area, San Pedro and Patchakan and the rest of the villages, these people for decades and decades have been suffering the dust and the mud and it has made their lives extremely difficult, so I am very happy for them, and I know they are very excited about it.”

 

PM Briceño was accompanied by six other ministers who were there to cut the ribbon, declaring the bypass officially opened. Among them was the Area Representative for Orange Walk South and the Minister of Agriculture, Jose Abelardo Mai. He spoke on the benefit of the road to the sugar industry.

 

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture

“It takes us now from here to the outlet, eleven minutes. It takes me eleven minutes. If I was to go through Corozal Town, from here to there is twenty minutes. And from there to the border is another twelve fifteen minutes, so time savings. Our cane trucks leave from Patchakan with fifteen, twenty tons of sugarcane with all lights working, everything the blink, the horn the blow, when you run through that road and get on the highway and the guys in blue stop you and ask to put on your signal and it doesn’t work, and you get a ticket for that. Not to mention you know how much it cost to deliver sugarcane to Orange Walk right now, it cost thirty-one dollars from San Ramon, here it is thirty-five dollars, if they pay you sixty or seventy, half of it goes into transportation. This will significantly contribute to lowering the cost of sugarcane.”

 

Funding for the project came in part as a thirty-seven million dollars grant from the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund and a loan from the Caribbean Development Bank.

 

Therese Turner-Jones, Vice President of Operations, CDB

“What I love most about this project is it epitomizes how CDB likes to work which is in partnership with some of our best partners and one of those here is the United Kingdom Commonwealth Development Office. So we are really proud to be here to be cutting the ribbon and opening this road.”

 

Kate Reynolds, Acting British High Commissioner

“On behalf of the UK government I express my heartiest congratulations to the Prime Minister and his government, especially those in the MIDH and the project execution unit for their hard work to ensure this project was completed within budget and the time frame.”

 

Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing, Julius Espat says rural communities are close to his heart, because he is a representative of a rural area. As a result, he understood the need for this upgrade and the impact it would have on these rural communities.

 

Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing

“Why rural, well rural communities for the last twenty years have not received any attention and they are as equal as us and any Belizeans and they deserve it and we have embarked on spending a large portion of our budget in rural communities. We share a bit last year with urban areas and we are shifting back to rural communities.”

 

But with the upgrade of the Remate Bypass, there is a need for increased police and traffic enforcement officers.

 

Julius Espat

“I am not in charge of the police, that is a different department on their own. I wish them well and I hope they do their job as efficiently as I think they well.”

 

Paul Lopez

“It does require more policing and the presence of traffic enforcement officers. How is that planned when these road developments are done?”

 

Julius Espat

“We discuss these things in Cabinet on a weekly basis. Our emphasis is to build the infrastructure and we give the other ministries advice. I really can’t go further than that.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.