Ready to drive on Puma Street

The official dedication of Puma Street took place this morning. The street is located adjacent to Puma’s Ramon Gas Station at Mile one and a half on the Northern Highway and connects to Coney Drive. The event brought out the City Council in full force along with Puma representatives. Duane Moody was also on hand and has this report.

Duane Moody, Reporting

The repairing of a street should not be cause for a celebration, but since so many are in disrepair, any smooth surface now warrants a social gathering. Puma Street officially opened to vehicular traffic in the Old Capital at a cost of forty-one thousand dollars. City Councilors and representatives from the billion dollar company, Puma Energy, which partnered in the upgrade of the street, were on site.

Freddy Flores

Freddy Flores, Manager, Puma Energy Belize

“We inaugurated the street which is called Puma Street. It was in collaboration with Puma Energy and the Belize City Council where we contributed towards the pavement of the street and the City Council Mayor was gracious enough to have the ceremony for us in conjunction with the inauguration of the launching of our first Puma brand service station in Belize.”

Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor

“Today we are here for the dedication of the street and the City Council took the decision to name the street, Puma Street. It was named after one of its benefactors. This street was constructed in partnership with the City Council working together with PUMA Energy which is the new brand for the former Esso and they contributed about forty percent of the cost for constructing the street.”

Darrell Bradley

The street opened another smooth flowing vein, connecting the Northern Highway and Coney Drive.

Darrell Bradley

“This street was in a much less than perfect condition about a month ago and it provides a major gateway from Coney Drive for persons to access the Northern Highway in the morning so that they can go on to the Northern Highway. So from a traffic management perspective, it is a street that is very necessary. There is a couple other of the streets that we have chosen to do because of its importance to allow access to persons in the Coney Drive Area to the Northern Highway. For example, we’ve just completed the upliftment of Captain Eiley Street and that was completed last week and that is now open for traffic.”

City residents have complained about the diversions within downtown Belize City due to the rehabilitation of streets. Mayor Darrell Bradley says that the council apologizes for the inconvenience; however, the proper infrastructure is needed to ensure a better quality of life.

Darrell Bradley

“Well we are working with our traffic department, our city engineer is out on the works on a daily basis, I am also inspecting the works on a daily basis; monitoring what’s going on in terms of traffic. It is an inconvenience and we must apologize to our residents of the city because of that inconvenience.”

As to the nuisance of huge craters in the Belama Phase Four Area, Mayor Bradley says those streets will also be dealt with in a timely fashion.

Darrell Bradley

“One of the first streets that we did in the first phase of the program was Thomas Vincent Ramos, which is the entry into Belama Phase Four. My engineers have took me up there and one of the things that we need to realize with that area is that a major problem is the drainage works and we need to find the funding to be able to put in the drains properly. We have done some filling but with the heavy rains, it is a waste of money because the filling just washes out. We have plans to cement Apollo Street; we have plans to go back properly into Belama Phase Four and fix the roads in that area. We have plans to continue Albert Hoy Street all the way to Belama Phase Four Bridge—that little manmade bridge that people walk over to access.”

Bradley says once the municipal bond is floated, the upgrading program in the various areas will continue. Duane Moody for News Five.