UDP Criticizes GOB for Neglecting Northern Sugar Roads Ahead of Crop Season

The Opposition United Democratic Party is condemning the Government of Belize for not repairing the sugar roads in northern Belize. Earlier this week, the Corozal Sugar Cane Producers Association (CSCPA) wrote to Prime Minister John Briceño, requesting urgent attention to the roads, particularly near Progresso Village. While the Prime Minister has stated that adverse weather conditions have affected the Government’s ability to repair the roads, Leader of the Opposition Moses “Shyne” Barrow says he’s not accepting that excuse. Barrow points out that sugar roads were a major complaint of the People’s United Party while they were in opposition, giving them ample time to prepare and years in government to address the issue.

Moses “Shyne” Barrow, Leader of the Opposition: “When the sugar roads, whom again the current Prime Minister as opposition leader promised to fix I remember listening to his New Year’s opposition speech and I remember vividly the issue of sugar roads being mentioned in the speech. And it is befuddling that four years, I think we could say five years now because we’re in 2025, the four-year mark was in November now we’re approaching February and we still have not seen this matter solved which impacts the strongest sector that we have, the sugar industry and the cañeros. So we call on the government to finally deliver. Usually these things are done within 100 days of an administration. Now we’re talking about five years. And we’ve seen so many things not delivered by this Briceño government and the sugar roads are one that really stands out. What I’m saying is we have known about this issue. At least Prime Minister Briceño knew about this issue for 13 years because they complained about it. They had 13 years to get ready to govern this country and they’ve had five years to fix the sugar road. So we don’t want to hear about weather, we don’t want to hear excuses. We want solutions and they were not serious about the solutions and that is why we have sugar roads that are hindering the progress of the farmers.”

The 2024/2025 sugarcane crop officially opened on December 27. The CSCPA told Love News that shortly after the crop season began, farmers’ trucks started breaking down due to the deplorable road conditions.