One of the biggest concerns that each and every Orange Walkeno has griped about is the conditions of the street networks for Orange Walk Town. And we all know that Central Government has neglected the Town, it was only till recently that Government announced that help would be rendered.

And while that work is yet to commence since BWS are laying down pipes to accommodate the road repairs, the Town Council is working arduously to address streets under their jurisdiction with the little resources/revenues they have.

And if you take a drive around town, you may have spotted 'men at work' on several streets and areas that are in dire need of attention. We sat down with Mayor Kevin Bernard who updated us on the remedial works being carried out by the council.

Kevin Bernard - Mayor, OWT

"We started with the Trinidad Street, we went into preparing Guadalupe Street, what we did with Guadalupe is to simply address those section of the road that was really, really bad, it had to be scarified and put in new all-in material, we want to leave it at a level where is fully compacted we are not promising that pavement will take place because there is some hopes that GSIP committee will be able to launch its project but however if the council feels that there is need for us to come in and do the paving then we will do that section. In terms of the other areas we are already starting in terms of getting Mahogany and Sapodilla prepared and those two streets will be paved, we are in consultation right now with the contractor that did the paving for us because we want to reseal Belize Street and we want to reseal Muffles Street, Staines alley and Barbados Street and the section of San Pedro Street, in addition to that the council has identified some other key intersections that we want to embark in cementing and one of the key areas that we are thinking right now is at the intersection of Progress that comes into Muffles and the other one is between Progress and Cinderella and likewise the junction of San Antonio and Fonseca Street and those are some of the junctions that we have identified that are key impact areas and as well as the junction between Dunn Street and Cinderella. Those are some of the things that we would want to cement for the first instance and at the same time we will be addressing San Andres Street, there is a section in San Andres Street that links to Belize Street that really needs some attention and we should start seeing some work there either this evening or tomorrow and in addition to that the ending part going into Tate Street where the curve is and we want to re-scarify that section, compact it and do some manual sealing on that area, in terms of Progress Street the other section of Progress Street that we want to address as well and there are some other street in the town like Market Lane ,Bautista Street that we want to also address and we did some work at Liberty Avenue on the right side of Liberty Avenue."

And while those remedial works are in full swing, the Council is proposing as part of their 2030 Municipal Development Plan, a 5 million dollar project that seeks the help from Central Government.

At the House Meeting on Friday, we heard Prime Minister Barrow say that he will support the proposal. Barrows response was one that Bernard says is 'hopeful' since it will be beneficial to all residents.

Kevin Bernard - Mayor, OWT

"I am very optimistic, when we sat down as a council and decided along with the area representative he was very instrumental in guiding us as well in some of those plans that we put together and we approach TQM a consultancy firm, which place together the actual project proposal of course with information that the council had to provide. I believe that when it was tabled in the house and presented briefly by the Area Representative for Orange Walk Central the Prime Minister response was in did positive and we are hoping that it could be so and I will not say that I will hold the Prime Minister to its words but I believe that as a responsible Prime Minister he knows that Orange Walk deserves much more than what we are getting and by us putting out an initiative like I think it is very important that we get the support him being the minister of finance, the council has to go to him any how to get his approval and so I welcome his point that he mentioned and I thank him for acknowledging that we are doing something that I think it is positive and that could benefit all the residents and the country on a whole."

CTV3