MIDH Struggles with Waste Dumping Issue Along New Road Projects

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Development (MIDH) is grappling with a mounting sanitation issue as it continues to expand and rehabilitate roads and the highways.  Minister of MIDH, Julius Espat explained in last week’s budget debate that while development and expansion is necessary, the unexpected volume of waste being dumped on and near these roadways has put undue pressure on the ministry’s already stretched resources.

Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing: “Under infrastructure development portfolio the Ministry is legally mandated to upkeep and maintain a public road network comprising of 3,156 miles. I want to repeat that, 3,156 miles. That is 23 miles more than we had before. Why ? Because we have opened up 23 miles of roads in the rural communities, most of them village and farm roads. Of those 3,156 miles Mr.Speaker 684 are paved, 2,266 miles are gravel and 205 miles of those are earth road but one of the programs that we have put in which I am pleading and I continue to plead with the Belizean people is we are spending too much money collecting garbage on our highways. I’m asking the private sector that produces the garbage. I’m asking the Belizean people to have some more civic pride. It is horrendous when we are bush hogging the sides of the highway and the amount of plastic that you see. I am asking the business community to start instead of giving plastic bags lets go back to the old days and do the paper bags that are safer for the environment. Let’s do a program where we ask people to take grocery bags the way we used to do it when we were small like small crocus bag or paper bags or cloth bags and reuse them over and over. Let’s help our country. MIDH is doing its part but we need everybody, the Ministry of the Environment, we need the Ministry of Tourism, we need everybody here and on the opposing side to convince our Belizean people that we have to take care of what we have which is a jewel. So that’s one of the things that I plead.”

The increase in road miles is due to the breaking in of new roads in new villages.