And Castro should have the wind at his back, because two weeks ago, the Prime Minister announced that Petrocaribe funded projects will be rolled out to
the rural areas of the country, since most of the focus has been on the urban areas.
Well, Castro told the press today that Crooked Tree is one of the first communities which is benefiting from this rural roll out. He said that the
focus of the first project is the Causeway which experienced major flooding in 2013, continuing well into the first half of 2014:
Hon. Edmund Castro - Area Representative, Belize Rural North
"Petrocaribe money is now reaching the Belize rural north constituency and here today in Crooked Tree, we have a contractor, Julio Patt and Sons who
are raising the causewayfor Crooked Tree. I chose that project simply because that's an area that gave us a lot of hard time, especially in the flood
period. So, we have secured some funding for the rolling out of petrocaribe for the causeway of Crooked Tree. We'll be doing approximately half a mile
which will take beyond the first and second bridge with the same level that we had. And we notice the last time the area that did not cover because we
have the proper level there. So we are working on that as we speak. You will see the truck traversing material back and forth, we're using the material
right from blackbound. Blackbound is another causeway in the back that I have built and I get a lot of bashing saying I spent 2 point what ever million
dollars and all kind of foolishness. That was not the case, in those budget books you can find that we did - it was an effort of the area
representative and the people of Crooked Tree that we build the causeway in the back, which is now saving millions and millions of dollars to the
government of Belize. Because now, instead of trucking material all the way from Rockville to Crooked Tree, we have material we have material we are
getting right from blackbound - from the same causeway people use to basically give me hell for. Now that same material from blackbound is also assist
the construction of all the streets in Crooked Tree. In the past, we would have to get material as far as Calvary Hill in the Orange Walk district. To
come here, bring 15 yard and go back and only make 3 or 4 trips for the day. Now a truck can make 20, 30 trips a day with the same fuel. So we are
saving the government of Belize and we are now doing the first half a mile on this causeway."
As viewers are aware there are 28 villages in Rural North, and according to Castro, plans are already being finalised to roll petro Caribe projects in
a number of those villages:
Hon. Edmund Castro
"We are proposing to pave 1.6 miles in Maskall, some streets in Maskall. We're proposing to pave the streets in Sandhill, the loop in the new site area
in Sandhill. We are paving half of the boulevard to Maxboro. We're paving another 1 point something miles of streets in Burrell Boom. We are also
building a basketball court in Maxboro for the residence. We are building a basketball court in Biscayne at the government school, we're building a
basketball court in Lemonal and man, I wish we had more money."
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