First section of Southern Highway dedicated

The first completed section of the Southern Highway was officially opened this morning. The thirty kilometer stretch between Cattle Landing and Big Falls was paved at a cost of almost twenty million dollars. Present at the opening ceremonies were the Director General of the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development Bader M-Al-Humaidhi, Minister of Works, Dr. Henry Canton, Minister of Rural Development and Culture Marcial Mes and area representative Michael Espat as well as other government officials and community leaders. The Kuwaitis provided almost sixty percent of the project’s funding, the Belize government added twenty-seven percent, with the remainder loaned from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Contractor for the project was the Costa Rican firm of Meco/Santa Fe. Work on the remaining sections of the Southern Highway, financed by the U.K., I.D.B. and Taiwan will commence shortly.