Cemento Progreso cement making plant opens

By Aaron Humes: Cement made in Belize – by Belizeans.

Cemento Rocafuerte, the new factory at Mile 34 on the George Price Highway, opened its doors on Monday as one of the first significant investments by outside hands in Belize under the John Briceño administration. It is an outpost of the Guatemalan firm Cemento Progreso, regionally recognized and now expanding into Belize.

Company CEO Jose Raul Gonzalez emphasized, “We are proudly now producing cement made in Belize by Belizean hands. For us, it was very important to consolidate the persons of Progresso Guatemala and for Belize to have strategic source of a product that mean development, that mean progress, and that is very important for the infrastructure of this country.”

The 25-acre plant is an investment of $8 million, according to Gonzalez using European technology. They were inspired by their first visit a few years ago introduced by their friends at Santander Group, which has a state-of-the-art manufacturing and processing plant in Valley of Peace, Cayo District, and decided to take the plunge.

Gonzalez says that neither the pandemic nor other pitfalls should stop the creation of properly made building materials made in Belize and by Belizeans – 28 of them, to be exact.

And it is the latter that is most significant to Prime Minister John Briceño, who attended the factory opening personally.

This is the type of investment that is an example not only to Belizeans, but to other Central American companies to reach into Belize and cross that bridge to CARICOM and other regional markets – while also creating jobs and revenue and reducing imports.

The Government, the P.M. said, will encourage contractors working with it and those on a smaller scale to buy local cement just as they would buy local milk, bananas and sugar, and pay in that revenue to get Belize on a proper economic footing.

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