150 New Buses to Modernize Belize’s Public Transportation

The Ministry of Transport is rolling out an ambitious plan to modernize Belize’s bus fleet. Minister Louis Zabaneh says the goal is to bring in one hundred and fifty brand-new buses for the National Bus Company, and the push already has support from twenty-one operators who’ve signed on to a public-private partnership. To make it happen, Zabaneh recently led a team to Taiwan, looking for funding and technical know-how to kickstart this game-changing project.

 

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transportation

“I must say thanks very much to the Embassy of Taiwan, to the Taiwanese people again, they have come up significant support to us with the trip itself. Meeting everybody that’s relevant to this process and  we have seen where manufacturers are willing to look at the proposal from us because we’re seeking one hundred and fifty new bosses that would renew the entire fleet for the twenty-one operators who have agreed voluntarily to be a part of the public-private partnership up to this point. And wow, we’re very pleased. It was a very successful trip and the Taiwanese government in particular have pledged support and offered us to share the knowledge that they have. They said that in 2002, they had a very similar situation where they had to go in and consolidate because they were having similar negative adverse impact on the quality of service to the commuters. And so, we were able to learn a lot about what they have done and they’re willing to share all of that with us.”

 

Shane Williams

“What timeline for it?”

 

Dr. Louis Zabaneh

“We are sticking to the timeline that Cabinet gave us at the ministry, which is that by the end of this year we should know everybody who is coming in on the PPP and on the 25th if we have a cabinet meeting, that’s our aim to be able to share this and get. The green light from cabinet for the next phase, which will be the formation of the new company, the legal formation, the PPP agreement, the first draft of it, and then also the draft legislation that will protect the interest of that company.”