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Today we visited South Street where we spoke to Francis Woods who told us more about the project and the people working on it.

Francis Woods - CISCO Construction
"These guys are very optimistic. They hope to be finished by Saturday, but I'd say no later than Wednesday of next week, and then we'll need a week of curing, so a total time of hopefully no more than 14 days. Our new mayor is very aggressive in fixing streets. He has this project happening, and Calle al Mar, this project being South Street. They are 2 different contractors, and of course, we're doing it through the Unite Belize initiative. If you remember, I think last year in September, we did Bishop Street, between Regent and Albert, between Scotia Bank and BTL. Using the same methodology, we've improved it quite a bit. We've learnt a lot since then, and we've found better ways to do it. There is a contractor, Enfield Martinez, and he's utilizing a lot of the young men right from Jump Street area, which is Wagners Lane and South Street. Definitely, long term, it's the far-cheaper way to go because it will outlive asphalt. The life-expectancy of concrete will be somewhere around 30+ years. It can go under whatever water, whatever hurricane, and it will last that long or more. It is a little bit more expensive than the regular paving. It's probably twice as much, but again, long term will pay it off. You'll never have to worry about coming to patch a pothole out here."

Darrell Bradley - Mayor, Belize City Council
"We've identified a lot of streets that we want to do in Belize City, but for various reasons, we can't commence the projects because maybe BWS, BEL, or BTL have told us that they need to put down some pipes or different things like that. So, we've had a good number of streets that we've identified, but the works will commence immediately when all the parties give the green light. We've identified 11 streets that we want to do in the City, and works have commenced on 4 of them. We have works on South Street, Daly Street, Calle al Mar, and Holy Emmanuel. On the other streets, works will commence in the next week or so, as soon as BWS indicates that they have put down the pipes which they need to put down. I did a site inspection on this street and Calle al Mar, and this street is supposed to - the guy indicated to me that he will get substantial work done by Saturday, but I expect that everything - in terms of the drain works and other things - should be done finished by next week. Calle al Mar will take a little bit longer because it is a bigger and wider street. Holy Emmanuel will take about 2 weeks, and Daly Street will take about a month."

Enfield Martinez - Sub - Contractor
"We've just started this morning with the concrete mix, so they guy behind the mixer. I have him programmed right through from start to finish. I have roughly about 19 workers right about now. I started the job yesterday, and I intend to finish on Saturday. I chose the workers who came out and performed. I got guys from in the neighbourhood, and likewise, I have some steady workers with, so I chose everybody. This will help them a lot because when this project finishes, they can go in another area and work, so it will benefit the guys down the road. I know that some of these guys are trouble-makers, but besides that, they're going to move around."

It will take about 200 bags of concrete to cover the street which is a little over 200 feet long and roughly 13 feet wide.

The street should be completed and open for use in about 2 weeks.

Work on the two streets will use about 1500 sacks of cement for a pavement that is about six inches thick.