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But, the biggest loan motion of the day was the one for 100 million Belize dollars. The Government of Taiwan has agreed to lend the Belize Government that entire sum at concessionary rates to upgrade the Corozal-Sarteneja Road and to build the Pueblo Nuevo and Laguna Seca Bridges. 

For this one, several senators complained loudly that for the large sum of money that the Senate was being asked to give permission to the Government to borrow, there were hardly any detailed breakdowns about how the funds would actually be spent. That triggered a lengthy back-and-forth, and here are a few excerpts of the debate:

Hon. Osmany Salas - NGO Senator
"No one will argue that road and those 2 bridges are not needed. They're desperately needed. I have travelled that road over the years many times and I feel for the people of Sarteneja, Xunux, Copper Bank, Little Belize, Progresso. The road has been in bad condition and I recall over the years, a couple times I've driven on that road and I've seen signs along the road saying, loan secured, road construction to begin soon, designs and construction. The people in that area have been promised an upgraded road for many years. This one, I hope it is but as usual, some of these loans and this is the big one today, 100 million Belize dollars. We have questions and some concerns. So it's 100 million Belize dollars, that's a whole lot of money and it adds substantially to what we already owe our good friend Taiwan."

Hon. Dr. Louis Zabaneh - PUP Senator
"The present administration's main development approach has been one of infrastructure, infrastructure led and that when you look at it closely however, we will see that this has in fact had serious negative ramifications on other sectors of our economy. So much resources have been directed towards infrastructure. It reminds me Mr. President our if you wish I could use an analogy of a body builder who focuses just on his biceps and the body builder is able to produce quite a handsome bicep but all the rest of the muscles are weak because they have not gotten the attention as that bicep. Senator just mentioned in his remarks, Senator Salas just mentioned the people of that part of our country have been waiting for years and years for this road and we are grateful that the road is now going to be put in but we wonder why it has taken so long to address that matter when in fact we have had other expenditures in infrastructure that have gone before this one. The infamous 180 million dollars to Caracol."

Hon. Michael Peyrefitte - Attorney General
"Mr. President I'd like to use the opportunity to genuinely welcome the 2 new senators to the upper house. Welcome and clearly you have demonstrated in your first presentation that you are not shy. Well, when you’re not shy, then you have to be responded to. So you asked why this government has taken so long to put that road. Senator Zabaneh you should ask your party, ask the PUP why it took so long for them and why did they not ever, ever build that road for those people in that area who time and time and time and time again return the area rep and his son and the government to that seat, in that area. Why? Now here comes along a UDP government and it has no political implications to Senator Zabaneh, none whatsoever."

Hon. Mark Lizarraga - Business Senator
"Today, we will borrow over somewhere around 150 million more, adding to this big burden we have already and again for the most part, we don't know what it is that will be delivered and that is sad, that is a tragedy."

Hon. Isabel Bennet - PUP Senator
"As an educator, as a nurse, there's no way that I can approach a patient to say, we're going to be doing x,y,z in terms of procedure and not give total information to the patient in order for the patient to give informed consent. So when I look at this particular motion that is before me as a senator, I took my oat this morning and I'm privileged and I know that the Belizean people will be expecting me and my esteemed colleagues to be able to take position that will be in the best interest of them. And so when I took at this motion, I'm thinking to myself, it has a very good timeline in terms of payback, whatever economic terminologies that are used; however, if you can't tell me how you're going to be spending the money, that brings concern to me."

Hon. Michel Chebat - Lead PUP Senator
"Questioning the particulars of this contract is what we're here for. It is important for us to know exactly how each cent will be spent because it is the tax payers of this country who will have to repay it Mr. President and so when my friends on the other side get up and they make a big noise, oh why you want to know these little nitty gritties, you're not an engineer, you won't understand it anyway. That is not the point Mr. President, the point is that we owe an obligation to the people of this country that is our job."