Mayor Kevin Bernard says Orange Walk streets in bad shape

Kevin Bernard

The Belize Tourism Industry Association, Orange Walk Chapter, on Tuesday in a release complained about the bad state of streets in Orange Walk Town. While works are currently underway on fifteen streets under the responsibility of Kevin Bernard and his Town Council, two main thoroughfares, the Philip Goldson Highway and the San Antonio Road are in disrepair. According to Bernard, those streets are the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Works and that he is in full support of the B.T.I.A.

Kevin Bernard, Mayor, Orange Walk Town

“It is showing now more and more that the people of Orange Walk town have reached to a point pass confusion. The council has been lobbying and has been pushing and asking the government to do its part in terms of getting the highway and the San Antonio Road done. We have heard that there are contracts signed. The prime minister was in the House a few months ago and he said that he had disbursed the funds to the ministry. As far as I am concerned, people don’t want to hear any more talks; people want to see work on the ground. So are far as what the people are saying. Now you are talking about B.T.I.A. Orange Walk Chapter who has sent out a very strong release. I read the release yesterday; I was given a copy of that release and I support their stand and as mayor of the town it disappoints me as well because at the end of the day, these streets do pass through our town. And the people need to be fully aware that the highway falls directly under the responsibility of the Ministry of Works, which is the Government of Belize and they need to get this done. I have seen where works have taken place in many other municipalities. We have seen the vast amount of investment being done in Belize City for example. You mean that you cannot at least have address the Orange Walk main highway, thoroughfare, before the rainy season? The rainy season is here upon us now. I have just been informed through BWS representative that BWS will be going in there and their projected time frame is about six months. So you are talking about another set of delays, another set of problems for our people in Orange Walk Town. And so the government of Belize, through the Ministry of Works, and I plead to the prime minister, to put some speed to this thing. I think they need to get the work done. The people of Orange Walk are frustrated. And if you want to talk about the other streets in our town, this town council is already working on our streets. But the main concerns of our residents, the cries of our residents, are the San Antonio Road and the main highway that runs through our town which is the responsibility of the government.”

According to Bernard, they are also concerned about the fifty thousand dollars paid to Hernandez Development Limited by the previous Orange Walk Town Council for the pavement of the San Antonio Road. Bernard says that he has been informed that another contract has been signed with Demar’s Stone Company to pave the same road. With respect to the stretch of the highway that runs through the town, Hernandez Development Limited has been contracted.