City Council/Central Gov’t. team up to fill potholes
As motorists we’ve come to accept potholes as a way of life in Belize. But in the commercial capital, many streets have come to resemble bomb sites with craters the size of cars replacing the asphalt. For three years the city council has maintained it was too cash strapped to alleviate the situation but today Deputy Mayor Anthony Michael told us, with the United Democratic Party in central government, things should get better fast.
Anthony Michael, Deputy Mayor, Belize City
“Because of the limited resources that the Belize City Council has, the ministry has stepped in and decided to help the residents of Belize City and in extension the visitors and tourism.”
Kendra Griffith, Reporting
One of the first neighbourhoods to benefit from that friendly relationship with central government is Kraal Road. This week, the heavy machinery was rolled out to prepare the street for paving all the way up to its junction with North Creek.
Anthony Michael
“The grader went through over the last couple of days ripping this up. What they are putting right now is hard core. So as soon as this completed and they reach their level that they are expected, water truck will then come and wet it and then the roller will come to compact it. once it reached its density, then the engineers will say it is ready for paving and they put down the tar and the chip and seal and make sure the drainage and everything flow after that.”
Kendra Griffith
“When will the street be completed?”
Anthony Michael
“We should have this street completed by Wednesday of next week.”
Next on the list of upgrades is Blue Marlin Boulevard in West Landivar.
Anthony Michael
“That is also in very bad condition. It needs to be raised, according to our engineers, about another eight inches with proper drainage. Our city engineers have already put in culverts and we’re gonna go in there over this weekend and Monday and Tuesday to start the drainage situation while filling the street at the same time. Everything will be working simultaneously. That should be ready to pave and should be completed by Friday of next week if all goes well without rain, with proper weather conditions.“
Kendra Griffith
“How are you all selecting which streets to target?”
Anthony Michael
“We are looking at the worse streets right now and there’s lots of bad streets in Belize City. We go around with our city engineer, we ask the residents to call in. We are not issuing any bloated contracts, we are not issuing contracts. All these streets that will be paving within the next month or so in Belize City will solely be done—besides the Albert and Regent Streets naturally because of the type of paving—all this will be done in conjunction with the ministry of works and the Belize City Council. This we are doing value for money.”
And as for Albert and Regent Streets, Deputy Mayor Anthony Michael says the utility companies should complete their restructuring around mid-May, paving the way for CITCO to go ahead with its plans to upgrade the area by that end of that month. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.
