Road Rehabilitation Begins in San Carlos, Orange Walk: Project Aims to Boost Agriculture

Farmers of San Carlos, Orange Walk will now have a smoother ride when transporting produce to the market thanks to a major road upgrade. Today, ground was broken for the rehabilitation of the village’s road through the Rural Resilience Belize program. In August, the construction contract was signed between the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, and A&N Construction. The project aims to enhance the lives of the rural village’s farmers and stimulate growth in the agricultural sector. Minister of Agriculture and Orange Walk South Area Representative Jose Mai spoke on the project’s importance and its expected impacts. 

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture: “It has taken a long time. I think the people have been frustrated because I have meeting after meeting, telling about this road. It is finally a reality. It is happening now, the contractors on the ground. We signed the contract a couple of weeks ago, and now today the construction is actually beginning. The physical work is commencing. We hope this will be done probably in about next three to four months, I believe. And then we move to the second phase of the project. The first time when I came to San Carlos, there was no road. I had to come by river, through the New River Lagoon, through the river, and then the River Lagoon and so I ended up in San Carlos many years ago. Today we have a road but it does not mean that we stop there. This road needs to be improved. These two communities, Indian Church and San Carlos are the communities that produce much of the vegetables from the Orange Walk District. Secondly Indian Church is one of the few tourism sites in the district. So there’s a lot of importance going into this road. And so this will improve the livelihoods of people. It will reduce the cost of transporting vegetables from here to Belize City. It will improve in transporting papayas from here to the port. And it will improve by lowering the cost of transportation and the cost of wear and tear of the vehicles. So this is a very important road for us.”

Mai added that a second phase of road upgrades will commence in the near future to pave additional roads in the community. 

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture: “Just before the ceremony I met with Dr. Flowers and the RRB project ends in December 2025 so we don’t have much time. We want to start the project, the second phase of the project, which is from Indian Church to San Felipe the upgrading. So we are working on that as we speak and we hope to get that done. So when the people from IFAD are here in November, we will discuss with them and we will move forward with it. We intend to achieve the goals of the project by 2025. So the work is ongoing, the dialogue is ongoing, and we will definitely ensure that we meet the objectives by December 2025.”

The community produces carrots, potatoes, onions, corn, peppers, and tomatoes.