Minister and Chief Engineer Did Not Need License

Lennox Bradley

Now, based on a 2014 Environmental Impact Assessment on the rehabilitation of the George Price Highway, an environmental compliance plan was agreed to between the Department of the Environment and Ministry of Works in 2016, which dictates certain terms and conditions for carrying out the project. As it relates to roadwork material sourcing, the Ministry of Works was advised to obtain appropriate licenses and permits from the Mining Unit of the Ministry of Natural Resources. Chief Engineer Bradley, however, quotes from the Report on the Countrywide Investigation on Borrow Pits for the Ministry of Works, Government of Belize which states that the Minister and the Chief Engineer had the authority to do so.

Lennox Bradley, Chief Engineer, Ministry of Works

“You have two laws of Belize that would provide the Ministry of Works the necessary authority to give approval to source material from any area in Belize. The Public Roads Act Chapter 232 of the Laws of Belize does give the Minister of Works and the Chief Engineer the authority to source material from any land in Belize. That is in the Public Works Act. The Mining and Minerals Act, Chapter 226, also makes specific provisions providing it’s for the construction of a public road and it’s a government entity. Now it is those two laws that we have used in addressing the request from the contractor, Belize Roadway Construction for sourcing material from the Santa Cruz pit in Santa Elena.”

Belize Roadway Constructions Limited was contracted to build a portion of the George Price Highway in Santa Elena leading up to the Hawkesworth Bridge; the George Price Avenue and Liberty Street among other streets.