7 News Belize

BIL Boss Rebuffs Blame Game
posted (October 18, 2017)
The Prime Minister and the engineer didn't hold back in blaming Belize Infrastructure Limited for the failure of the Lake I Boulevard.

So, we reached Christy Mastry, the General Manager of BIL by phone today for her rebuttal. She said she does accept some of the blame but it is a team effort and the fault is not just hers.

Christy Mastry, General Manager - BIL
"I think that there is a little bit of nervousness, because its public perception that we want to find some way to maybe blame. This isn't necessarily a good thing, because we are all a part of the same team. I think that we work closely with the Ministry of Works and the decision that we made early on with Lake Independence Boulevard was we knew that there would be ample new land area - 50 acres for development and that road wasn't to be a road. It was really to be almost like an interlink highway between the northern and the western. Which means the demand for that road as far as traffic was much more than any of the other internal city streets. So we look to do a double lane boulevard."

"The idea of designing Lake Independence Boulevard was the right design and the right road width. We don't back down on that. We believe that was a good decision by BIL and the engineering team. What we should have done initially when that area was filled and this was before BIL came into fruition, was not to put clay on that site, because particularly where a road is, a road base as Ministry of Works knows really well, really needs a combination of post landfill geogrid to make sure that that clay doesn't seep. Unfortunately what has put there was clay. So truth of the matter was we were working on a shoestring for that road which is only 3 million dollars. I know Faber's Road now is about 9 million - 8.9 million I think. So really we should have had a higher budget from day one and maybe we should take a little bit of blame and should have excavated that road good."

"I don't think it's a matter of blame, I think its matter of all we spent was 3 million. It's half the length and double the width of what some roads are costing now. We have to put new money in there and do a proper job on that. I think that's a decision we could make."

"We tried to do the hot mix. We thought it would be more forgiving to the level of settlement, but no one could have predicted the level of settlement that would have occurred."

"We accept responsibility and we live on and we work together as a team and that's what we should be doing. I think the best way to resolve anything is the commitment to work together as a team and to try and find the best solution and try to spend government dollars as best as possible with every single negotiated contract. So I don't want to put a blame on anyone. We rather take the responsibility and get it fix and over the next couple years and do what's best for the country."

Mastry said this is a learning experience for all involved not just BIL. All entities will work to fix the road. From what the engineer said, that would seem to mean digging it up, and starting back again with the landfill and then re-paving it with increased pavement thickness.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize