BBA Protests as Westline is Awarded E-Bus Contract

The Belize Bus Association (BBA) is raising objections after learning that all three electric buses donated by the European Union and the UN Development Programme will go to one operator, Westline Bus. The BBA argues the buses should have been distributed regionally to give other companies a fair chance.

The association says the process raises questions about fairness and transparency. They believe one bus should have gone to the North, one to the Central region, and one to the South.

Westline’s owner, Sergio Chuc, defended the selection process. He told News 5, “I really do not understand why and who sent out that release or if the release is actually truthful. The Belize Bus Owners Association was part of this project; they were at the meeting.”

Chuc said many small operators were unlikely to qualify. “You have to have a good accounting system already in place. These people will not invest those huge sums of monies to gather information and give it to somebody who will not be able to produce that information,” he said. “That basically knocked out most of the small operators… From the very beginning they, most of them, knew that they would not qualify for it.”

In September 2024, the Minister of Transport at that time, Rodwell Ferguson, stated, “We put out the bid, put out the tender, and those who had interest will bid, and they and the committee will sit down and decide who is the best person who bid to get all the runs, because one company will manage all three buses at least for a one-year pilot project.”