What’s the Cost of the Soon-to-be-built Coastal Road

Like the Caracol Road, the opposition is also wary of the cost and funding of the Coastal Road.  At the end of October 2018, P.M. Barrow informed the nation via press conference that a feasibility study was being concluded, prior to moving to a design stage before going out on construction.  The P.M. went on to say that total funding for the upgrading of that carriageway is approximately eighty million US dollars to be funded by the British government.  On Friday, Opposition Leader John Briceño raised objections for a loan of thirty-six point five million U.S. dollars for the pavement of thirty-six miles of road.  He provided a comparison of similar works carried out during the P.U.P.’s tenure.

John Briceño, Leader of the Opposition

John Briceño

“Madame Speaker, nobody would question whether the paving of the Coastal Road is not a good project and it is something that in principle we would support.  But I certainly question the amount being spent to pave the Coastal Road, Madame Speaker, I mean we are getting thirty-three point four million dollars US grant from the UK, and we are grateful for that.  And then we are borrowing another thirty-six million, five hundred and seventy-six thousand dollars US for a total of, in Belize dollars, a hundred and thirty-nine million, nine hundred and fifty-two thousand dollars to pave fifty-nine kilometers or thirty-six point six miles of road.  If you were to take some kind of comparison when we were in government, Madame Speaker, we spent approximately a hundred million Belize dollars to pave a hundred and five miles of the Southern Highway.  And here we are now spending a hundred and thirty-nine million, nine hundred and fifty-two thousand dollars to pave thirty-six point six miles of road, Madame Speaker.”