The Coastal Road is kind of like a secret weapon - from all those who dare to use it, it's a great shortcut to the south. But, by the time you're done, you may feel like your insides are scrambled!
Well, now, the Government of Belize wants to pave that nearly 37 miles of road.
But it's going to be a while before the upgrade works actually start.
The Government signed a contract today with an Italian Engineering and Consultancy Firm to conduct a a 10-month feasibility study. The company is called Politecnica (Poli-technica), and today, in a rare invitation to the press, the Ministry of Works invited us to attend the contract signing. Here's what the Works Minister had to say about the project:
Hon. Rene Montero - Minister of Works
"It is the first step that is the design and feasibility study. We put it out to tender, and 12 foreign companies applied. And we shortlisted 4. CDB, which is responsible for this project, selected Politecnia of Italy. They are the ones that won the contract. It's a study, and once it's completed, then we are are going to put it to tender for upgrading and paving of that road. The contract is for $995,000 US, and it's for 10 months, and it will be for the entire Coastal Road, which we call the Manatee Road, which is about 36.2 miles. Once it is completed, the bank will give the okay that we can proceed and put it to tender. We have our engineer, who is the consultant, Mr. Gilharry. He will be the Ministry consultant to ensure that the company fulfills its contractual obligations. These funds are actually a grant from the UK Government, and its hundred million dollars. We're going to approximately about 80 million dollars to do the feasibility study, to do the design, and actual construction. And the balance of about 20 million dollars, we're going to be use it to upgrade the Philip Goldson Highway. We have been negotiating with funding agencies from when I came here about almost 5 years, when I came to this ministry. And that was one of my priorities, to ensure that the Coastal Road is paved, because as you would know, that's the only highway that's not paved in this country. Once we paved that Coastal Highway, then we'll have all the main highways in this country paved."
Representative, Politecnica Consultancy Firm
"I understand the importance of this road for your country. I understand the importance of the funds from the UK because this road is crucial, not only for the specific region for all over your country. So, our scope will be of course to provide all the efforts, all the best to have the consultancy as per the TOR, as per contract, fulfilled within 10 months. I know about the importance to be on time in this project."
H.E. Peter Hughes - British High Commissioner
"This will make an enormous difference to transportation in this country, to access to the south, and it will open up that whole area for tourism, and for ecological works. So, we are very pleased by this, and this will also be the beginning of a two-phase project, where we will also be working on the Philip Goldson Highway, to the Mexican Border. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to see some movement, and I wish you all very well with the project for the 10 months, and we look forward to starting construction as soon as possible."
The contract with Politecnica (Poli-technica) for this feasibility study is valued at $995,000 US dollars.
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