And while he doesn't agree with us - he also doesn't agree with PUP Deputy Leader Julius Espat. Espat told us on Monday that he doesn't feel the city has been accountable with the paving of streets - you'll here his criticism and the mayor's response:.
Hon. Julius Espat
"They say they are completing, they say 100 streets, but with the money and no accountability we could probably be paving 500 to 1000 streets. We need to know."
Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor
"Every single thing has been done in a way that accords with good administrative practice and that has been transparent, so that any kind of general suggestion with lack of accountability, no disrespect to him but I just put that as political fluff. Point to me in relation to one thing. Say that we don't have an audit. Say that we don't have this. Say that we don't have that. Say in relation to the tender. Just don't go out there because everybody likes to bash a politician."
Jules Vasquez
"You paved one on the 140 streets. You paid X million dollars. Are these representatives of a true value for money? If you look at Mosel Street, if you look at 6th Street, these streets are in serious aids of degradation."
Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor
"We've had a problem on both streets you mentioned, Muscle Street and 6th Street. There are difficulties. We have a sizable retention for that contractor in relation to both of those streets. The same contractor. There's only one contractor we've had difficulty with and it's the same contractor who we are working from his retention to repair those streets. So that we've had ongoing discussions. Some of the work has already gone on. Works will continue. That same contractor works as a subcontractor for Cisco and so we are working with him in terms of his schedule to repair where he will repair and to use his retention in relation to where they want. So that when somebody says a general question in terms of lack of accountability, Jules, there's an answer. What I'm saying is if you are seeing value for money, I can't guarantee that there's going to be a 100% perfection on a street, but we can say that we tender the streets. We can say that the people who do the building. Cisco construction are well recognize contractors. If you ask me a question about Mosel Street and 6th Street, I can tell you that we've had problems with one contractor. The same contractor did a Cemetery Road. We have a sizable retention for him. We've repaired parts of it already and it's an ongoing process."
Email
Print