SANTA ELENA AND SAN IGNACIO TO RECEIVE NEW RESOURCE CENTRE

November 18, 2009


Residents of San Ignacio and Santa Elena in the Cayo District will soon have access to a modern and well equipped resource centre thanks to the efforts of the Social Investment Fund. The center will benefit students from primary, secondary and tertiary level institutions. The project will be officially launched this afternoon at the project site in San Ignacio. Mike Hernandez is Director of Public Relations at the Social Investment Fund.

Mike Hernandez; Director of Public Relations, SIF

"This afternoon we will officially be launching San Ignacio Santa Elena Resource Centre. What is happening is that the current library is housed at the San Ignacio Town Council Building but the facilities there, even though they have done a wonderful job in providing excellent services to the general public and students, the facilities there are very limited in terms of space and therefore they are overcrowded. The intention therefore is to remodel and extend the building which is located behind the Scotia Bank on Riverside Street in San Ignacio. This building once housed the San Ignacio meat market."

The current building will be remodelled and over one thousand five hundred residents of the twin towns are expected to benefit from the project.

Mike Hernandez; Director of Public Relations, SIF

"The new facility will have an area for users to leave their bags, a library with a children's section and an adult section covering fiction and non-fiction books, periodicals, reference books etcetera etcetera. It will also have multi-media section, an internet cafe, an auditorium and display section. The new facility will also have an administrative, a utility room and a bathroom.  We have looked at some statistics and according to the 2008 population estimates produced by the Statistical Institute of Belize San Ignacio and Santa Elena has a population of over 19 thousand inhabitants. There are approximately two thousand nine hundred persons in the periphery of the twin towns. We also know that there are three main high schools in the area and an addition of another four thousand students in various primary schools. On the average we have found that over 15 hundred students and other residents use the current facilities."

The project will be funded by the Government of Belize through a Loan from the Caribbean Development Bank. The total cost of the project is estimated at a little more three hundred seven thousand dollars. The Guest Speaker for the event will be the Area Representative for Cayo North, Salvador Fernandez.

LOVEFM