Guatemala launches tender for second Belice bridge

Guatemala’s communications, infrastructure and housing ministry (CIV) will receive on August 4 bids for designing and building the second Belice bridge. 

However, a tentative date for awarding the contract has not been scheduled yet, according to procurement site Guatecompras. 

CIV representatives and members of development foundation Fundesa presented Wednesday the project’s model to the media and the private sector.

Although estimated investment was not provided, it was stated that the bridge project would be 5.1km long, including access roads, and will have five lanes, four for regular transit and one for services. 

It will also involve a lower level for a monorail project, known as Metro Riel.

According to technical documents available on Guatecompras, “The Belice II bridge project with its access roads consists of the construction of a new alternative entry and exit to Guatemala City from and to the Central American highway CA-09 north.”

The project has been sought by the Alejandro Giammattei administration for some time. In 2020, CIV requested 190mn (US$25mn) quetzales to start the works. 

Kevin Rodrigo Valencia, the acting director of public-private partnership promotion agency Anadie, told BNamericas in January that the agency was working on models to develop a monorail, which would be among its priorities for this year.