Works Minister Says No Contract for Replacement of Haulover Bridge Signed

Rene Montero

Works Minister Rene Montero also spoke of government’s plans for the Haulover Bridge which his rapidly deteriorating. The Barrow Administration, in mid-October 2017 secured a twelve-million U.S. dollar loan from the OPEC Fund for International Development to replace the bridge. It was also pointed out back then that in 2014 the government had already secured sixty million Belize dollars for the cost of the bridge. In 2016, according to Minister Montero, a contract was signed with an Italian Structural specialist for the design of the bridge. He said that seven contractors submitted bids to pre-qualify but the consultancy firm of Politecnica (poly-tech-nica) approved two companies, an Italian firm and a joint venture between a Belize and Mexico firm. Minister Montero today told the Opposition that no contract has been signed, awarded or approved to any contractor as yet and it will be done with the approval and instruction of the CDB.

Rene Montero, Minister of Works

“Out of the two companies that qualified only one bid was received on the third September 2019. This was evaluated and found to be over the budget. In further consultation with the banks the Ministry of Work received no objections from CDB to negotiate a lower cost. This negotiation is ongoing. To date no contract has been signed for the construction of the new Haulover Bridge. The Ministry of Works is committed to follow the instructions of the Caribbean Development Bank and the Ministry of Finance to stay within the loan budget and will not sign until approval is granted by the Caribbean Development Bank, OFID, and the Ministry of Finance. Madam Speaker as you can see from the above statement no contracts has been signed for the Haulover Bridge. Further Madam Speaker I want to emphasize that a contract for the construction of the Haulover Bridge will only be signed after receiving instructions from the lending institution to do so, in this case the Caribbean Development Bank.”