And, consistent with the drive to an election, there are almost daily openings and handing over events.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held in the Cayo district last Friday to pave the road from Bullet Tree village that leads into Spanish Lookout. This 10 million dollar project will benefit the communities of Bullet Tree, Santa Familia, Billy White, Duck Run 1, and Spanish Lookout, enabling them to transport their produce and livestock with ease. Here are the highlights from the ceremony.
Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure and Development "This road is a special road for us in the West it is connecting one of the most productive communities which is Spanish Lookout to the rest of the Cayo district we are one family in Belize and we are trying to have that intersection between our cultures our style our way of living and our way of thinking. This project is a special project in a way because it is a public private partnership venture. It is the Spanish lookout community coming together and joining with government, financing the project to be able to make it work and it was one of the ways we found to fast track the bureaucratic way doing road construction if we would have had to gone through the normal procedure it would have taken much longer and we would have had to lobbied much harder and so it would have not been possible to do it in this time frame."
Orlando Habet, Cayo North East, Area Representative "So today we have the groundbreaking ceremony for the pavement of the road from Spanish lookout through the villages in Cayo Northeast mainly Duck Run 1, Billy White, Santa Familia, San Jorge and onto Bullet Tree village. This road is absolutely important for many years we have been looking through various administrations to get those road paved because it is heavily trafficked and we have hundreds and hundreds of workers who move from Bullet Tree village to San Ignacio even that come through this side and work in Spanish lookout and we have farmers who also have access to their farms through this road and as I mentioned very important because about 60 or 70% of all the cattle that goes to Guatemala passes through this road. All the corn and all the things that are exported also through passes through this road and when we have these flooding events it is absolutely important because then apart from those commodities we have chicken, Beef, eggs and milk, ice cream you name it all the food items that have to pass through here when the lower lying bridges are closed so it is important. But the communication aspect is also important because it provides that facility for people to move around. I think the pavement of the road also will increase the values of those properties along the road and maybe even beyond especially those people who might even have their farms for sale. Also the fact that we have areas where we can try to promote tourism. We have a sink hole in Santa familia where many people do not know and it will afford that communication and that transportation to this area where we can build and also get the communities involved to provide some of those aspects for tourism."
The 125th Christmas Bird Count
Our next story is one we tried to air on Friday night - but could not because of one of those ghosts in the machine.
It's about the Christmas Bird Count which takes place from December 14 to January 5 across the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.
In Belize, last year's counts recorded between 183 and 265 species at various field locations. Freelance journalist Jose Sanchez has more on the 125th Christmas Bird Count.
Email
Print
And, consistent with the drive to an election, there are almost daily openings and handing over events.
"This road is a special road for us in the West it is connecting one of the most productive communities which is Spanish Lookout to the rest of the Cayo district we are one family in Belize and we are trying to have that intersection between our cultures our style our way of living and our way of thinking. This project is a special project in a way because it is a public private partnership venture. It is the Spanish lookout community coming together and joining with government, financing the project to be able to make it work and it was one of the ways we found to fast track the bureaucratic way doing road construction if we would have had to gone through the normal procedure it would have taken much longer and we would have had to lobbied much harder and so it would have not been possible to do it in this time frame."
"So today we have the groundbreaking ceremony for the pavement of the road from Spanish lookout through the villages in Cayo Northeast mainly Duck Run 1, Billy White, Santa Familia, San Jorge and onto Bullet Tree village. This road is absolutely important for many years we have been looking through various administrations to get those road paved because it is heavily trafficked and we have hundreds and hundreds of workers who move from Bullet Tree village to San Ignacio even that come through this side and work in Spanish lookout and we have farmers who also have access to their farms through this road and as I mentioned very important because about 60 or 70% of all the cattle that goes to Guatemala passes through this road. All the corn and all the things that are exported also through passes through this road and when we have these flooding events it is absolutely important because then apart from those commodities we have chicken, Beef, eggs and milk, ice cream you name it all the food items that have to pass through here when the lower lying bridges are closed so it is important. But the communication aspect is also important because it provides that facility for people to move around. I think the pavement of the road also will increase the values of those properties along the road and maybe even beyond especially those people who might even have their farms for sale. Also the fact that we have areas where we can try to promote tourism. We have a sink hole in Santa familia where many people do not know and it will afford that communication and that transportation to this area where we can build and also get the communities involved to provide some of those aspects for tourism."