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In related news, Cabinet this week turned its attention to the future of public transportation in Belize, as discussions continued on the long-term development plan for the National Bus Company. During Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, approval was granted for the Ministries of Transportation and Finance to begin negotiations for financing aimed at procuring electric buses as part of the broader modernization of the country’s transport system. Minister of Transportation, Dr. Louis Zabaneh, says government is currently exploring financing arrangements with potential international lenders and development partners, while also examining repayment mechanisms that would make the investment sustainable in the long term.
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport: “We are looking for a 15-year loan that would be the first five years interest only, and then the principal had interest for the next 10 years. So Cabinet agreed that that structure would be supported and that we could proceed now with identifying which one of the funding sources would be best suited for us. We have a number of options on the table. We’ve had Taiwan. We have the European Union and with the European Investment Bank. And then we also have, based on a meeting we had in South Korea, a combination with the Green Climate Fund and potential funding from IDB. So those different options have been on the table. We’re quite advanced already with Taiwan and with the EU. So those are much advanced. With the IDB and Green Climate Fund we haven’t knocked on that door again. We know that they have indicated that there’s a potential path there and that will be pursued as well. But we know we’re quite advanced with them. the NBC itself would pay the loan directly from the NBC. So the objective would be to attempt to get this structure in place without having a full guarantee or a guarantee from the government. Again those are some of the things that we’re working on and we haven’t crossed that bridge as yet.”
The planned acquisition of electric buses follows an intense exploration of options available, specifically in Taiwan. Dr Zabaneh explains who the potential contractors are and the process that would follow.
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport: “We have two manufacturers one is named Master and the other one is named Tron E. They have both visited Belize twice to understand the lay of the land, if you will, how many chargers would be needed, what’s the distances of the routes and so on. And so if we go down that path and that path is considered to be the best one going forward, then we do a tender there that would be assisted by them, if that’s the path that we were to decide to go. At this time we’re not at that stage yet. We’re looking at all the options. In the case of the EU we would have a similar process of tendering that we’d have to do there as well. So I suspect that within the next two months or so, those details would be worked out.”
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