New Water System for San Estevan Village

Just days after rural Orange Walk villages finally got reliable electricity, another essential service is getting a major upgrade, this time, it’s water. In San Estevan, the Ministry of Rural Transformation rolled in with new water‑system expansion materials and backup power equipment designed to keep taps running and connect even more homes to the network. The package includes high‑grade pipes to push the system farther and a heavy‑duty diesel generator to keep water flowing even when the power goes out. Prime Minister John Briceño and Minister Oscar Requena joined village leaders for the handover, underscoring the government’s commitment to making sure rural communities get the same dependable services as the rest of the country.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“Theres so many things that we in the urban areas, like in Orange Walk Town and in Belize City that we take for granted that you do not have in the villages, and we want to ensure that the villages also have the very same opportunities and the services that we all have. That is why we decided that we don’t want to call the ministry rural development, but rural transformation because we are transforming the lives of our people. And because of that kind of leadership that we’ve had, again, like in the Ministry of Rural Transformation with Minister Requena and CEO Shal, we have been seeing a lot of work being done in the rural areas of this country from expansions of water, of electricity of roads, of streets, of land, of assistance to our people in agriculture, trying to help them finding different markets. Looking at schools and community centers and clinics. That is what this team -This team have been a transformative team actually. And with the work that they have been doing. And just a few weeks ago, they also presented for the first time ever a national strategy for rural transformation.”