BELIZE (Commonwealth Union)_The Belize government says it will need at least $20 million to help repair storm-ravaged towns in the Belize District after Hurricane Lisa passed through last week.
Prime Minister John Briceño went over the hurricane-ravaged districts with Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay and the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) coordinator, Shelton DeFour. “Minister Courtenay was with me on the flyover because Foreign Affairs is in charge of government collaboration,” PM Briceño explained, adding that Courtenay and DeFour have subsequently drafted a brief document on the subject. “We used that and made an educated guess.”
“I believe it was 10 million dollars. But we have the Ministry of Housing visiting house to house, constituency to constituency, looking at what, looking at the figure that we need to come up with,” the Belizean leader added. He stated that the early estimates from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing are around US$20 million, which would almost literally include the rebuilding of the Philip Goldson Highway from the city up to the Haulover Bridge.
According to PM Briceño, the majority of the structures damaged during Hurricane Lisa’s passage were residences built of plywood. He stated that the aim for the future is to rebuild using concrete and other materials that can endure gale-force winds.
“The majority of the dwellings that were destroyed were plywood houses or houses that were thrown together fast… If a board home is correctly built, it can weather a hurricane,” he stated, adding that “if you look at the low-cost housing that the Ministry of Housing has been doing in the city, all of them have no damage to the buildings.”
He stated that the authorities are hard at work, collaborating with government departments to restore normalcy in Belize City. The Constituency Development Fund has made funds available for area MPs to assist their residents who have incurred losses as a result of the hurricane. According to PM Briceño, the utilities have largely been restored.
