And from the UDP civil war over the headquarters near the Belchina Bridge, to the PUP tensions rising from the deteriorated state of the Belcan Bridge.
You've heard the Minister of Infrastructure Development belabor the point that the Belcan Bridge needs urgent repairs - and that it is an active risk to public safety. Julius Espat has had the plans laid out in hopes that work could begin before it gets worse. But his alerts have been answered with requests to just be patient, and so Espat has been waiting for the financing.
Well, that financing was announced yesterday during the press conference with Taiwanese Foreign Minister, Dr Chia-Lung Lin. But up until this morning, Espat hadn't been informed, and was notably omitted from the list of officials invited to the site tour.
But we caught up with him at the Biltmore Plaza where the media asked him about it. Courtney Menzies has this story.
Commuters crossing the Belcan Bridge this morning would have seen the Prime Minister and the Foreign Ministers for both Belize and Taiwan on the southern approach. They weren't there sightseeing though - Taiwan's government has committed to providing the financing to rehabilitate the badly deteriorated bridge.
The entourage this morning included dignitaries from the Taiwanese embassy, FM Dr Lin's entourage, CEO in the Ministry of Finance, and even the Minister of Health.
But notably, the Minister of Infrastructure Development - whose Ministry would normally be responsible to oversee design and construction of the bridge - was absent. He was at another event this morning, and he had yet to be informed of Taiwan's commitment. But he said that MIDH is ready to move forward.
Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing
"It's good news. That bridges is urgently in need of of replacing. So that's good news. I assume that after the Prime minister and the foreign minister finishes with the the minister that came from Taiwan, he will sit with us and give us directives. I don't know the details as yet. We have everything on our side ready, meaning all the designs are already done, everything is ready. It was put on hold for a while because of financing. So I assume that they were in communication with Taiwan. So that's good news. And I hope that it starts as soon as it possibly can."
But Espat's absence at the site tour was especially concerning since he's been pushing for the rehabilitation for months now. Back in April, there was some tension between his ministry and the Ministry of Finance because of what seemed like a lack of urgency.
posted (April 26, 2024)
Julius Espat, Minister - MIDH
"The bridge that fell in Baltimore can give you an idea what can happen. It's a smaller scale. We don't have the level of traffic, but it can happen if we have enough money to spend on other things. I think we should spend on priority projects- that being one."
posted (May 8, 2024)
Julius Espat
"From day one we are waiting for a response. But it's not our decision. Remember, we are service providers and if the allocation is given to us, the work will start immediately. If they believe that there are other priorities, then I have to respect that."
And while Espat had heard rumblings of meetings, he seems to be very conspicuously out of the loop this one, and today he wasn't holding his breath until there was a more concrete agreement:
Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing
"I heard that there was a meeting. And there's always proposals as to who will be the finance and who is not. And I don't count my marbles until it's already there. So discussions have been ongoing. The CDB was interested, Kuwait at one point was interested, IDB was participating. Remember we had this, it was one project, the George Price Highway Rehabilitation Project that includes the swing bridge includes Belcan and the entire highway. So, until the Minister of Finance sits with me, and says, this is where we are going, and then I will tell him this is our procurement procedures. And then from there we go."
The Belcan Bridge has been in use since 1969.
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