3,07 Miles of San Carlos Road Being Paved

Just three weeks ago, the contract to pave three miles of the San Carlos Road was signed, and now the project is in full swing. This development is set to transform the lives of local farmers and residents, making it easier for them to travel to their farms and markets where they sell their produce. Today, Agriculture Minister Jose Abelardo Mai and MIDH Engineer Irving Thimbriel visited San Carlos to discuss the project further. News Five’s Marion Ali was on the scene to report on the event.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

The paving of three point zero seven miles of the San Carlos Road under the Resilient Rural Belize Program will begin shortly. The project is valued at one point one nine million dollars. Today Minister of Agriculture, Jose Abelardo Mai said that the current road has been traversed by villagers who are now engineers and persons at university level.

 

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture

“We have a highway now that leads you straight to the village of San Carlos. In those days, there wasn’t even a school in San Carlos. The kids had to walk to Indian Church to get their education. Those same kids who had to walk from San Carlos to Indian Church, are now engineers today. They’re agricultural engineers, one of them is studying in Cuba, he’s getting his Bachelor’s in Business. Those same kids who had to walk.”

 

Engineer with the MIDH, Irving Thimbriel explained that there had to be studies done before the work could begin.

 

Irving Thimbriel, Civil Engineer, MIDH

“Many times we have gotten roads that have affected the people who live near the edge of the road. So those things we have to take into account so that we can have an effective solution that covers all those things in the case of that project. Even though we didn’t do a complete study several times we came here to see the people of the village to know what can happen. When the road itself is finished, we take those things into account and we include them in the design of the road itself.”

 

Thimbriel says that after the technical studies are completed, they had to come up with a workable concept for the project.

 

Irving Thimbriel

“After that, we went to the office to do a development plan to come up with a concept. After all that, how high we have to raise the road, how wide it has to be, the places where there are weaknesses. And after going through all that, we came here to talk to the chairman to present the things we found.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.