And keeping it in Belmopan, we turn now to the subject of the cane roads. They are still not fully ready and today the area representative for Orange Walk South – which is the second largest cane producing constituency – warned that significant volumes of cane stand to be lost:
Hon. Jose Mai - Orange Walk South Representative.
"The sugar industry cannot afford further delay, Mr. Speaker, and I will tell you why. Mister Speaker, we have a hundred and twenty day crop to deliver one point two million tonnes of sugar cane this year. Definitely, there will be cane left out this year. The estimation, Mr. Speaker, is that we are only going to 960 thousand tonnes; the mill only be able to absorb that, hence the urgency of the repairs. Mr. Speaker, you know what it is to be left with 240 thousand tonnes of cane ou there? Mr. Speaker, you are talking about 16 million dollars' worth remaining, in the field. So, Mr. Speaker, it is urgent that we really accelerate the rate of repairs."
Hon. Gaspar Vega, Deputy Prime Minister
"The way this thing was programmed was with the directors of all the different sugar branches. I don’t think that the representative from Orange Walk South expected that from this administration, but we are showing him that we are transparent and that all we want is the betterment of the industry. We take no sides for no one; we want a better industry. We contracted the roads with the advice of all the directors of the sugar branches. They were the ones who decided which sugar roads to be repaired and we had asked them that there is a limited amount of contractors and to ensure to work on the roads that can be worked on because as we speak, Mister Speaker, there are still sugar roads that are under water as we speak. How are we going to fix those roads?"
Tune in tomorrow to hear what the Prime Minister had to say about political favouritism in the distribution of cane road repairs contract.
Government is spending 2.5 million dollars on the cane roads.
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