And, as you probably know, the CDB will now fund the upgrades to the 36-mile Coastal Road, which will cost 132 million dollars. That was approved in December, and the CDB's Director of Projects said yesterday that construction should start very soon:
Daniel Best - Director of Projects, CDB
"That project was approved toward the end of last year by our Board of Directors. I've been moving through the procurement process as it is. We would have engaged - I'm sorry, the Government of Belize would have gone through the procurement for contractors, I believe. And so, with that in mind, we made our initial disbursement on that project, and we expect that one to move - to advance quite quickly. And again, that project was designed in incorporating resilience measures and methodologies to, of course, one, benefit directly the lifespan of the road, but more importantly, to protect the residents in the area and users of the road, to the potential impact of the natural-hazard events. So, it would have undergone a full climate vulnerability assessment."
Dorian Pakeman - Government Press Office
"How comfortable is the CDB with the procurement process when it comes to issuing contracts and such in Belize, and projects being completed to a satisfactory level?"
Daniel Best
"So, that's a very good question. Belize has traditionally - I think - last year might the first year that it wasn't the #1 country receiving CDB disbursements. I think it probably slipped to #2 because we had a few other big projects in one of our other borrowing member countries. But, Belize has really been a bit of a flagship country for the Caribbean Development Bank in terms of project implementation and project delivery."
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