Major Bus Upgrade: 24 Electric Buses Ahead for Belize

For commuters tired of breaking down, aging buses, relief could finally be on the way. Government is moving ahead with plans to introduce twenty-four electric buses and charging stations through a partnership with Taiwan. Transport Minister Dr. Louis Zabaneh says the investment will help modernize Belize’s bus network, cut fossil fuel use and deliver cleaner, more reliable transportation.

 

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport

“Recently, due to the war in Iran where fuel prices have skyrocketed and impacted negatively on economies around the world. So we have embarked from before March on looking at options to make this transition. We’ve looked at producers in Taiwan, in South Korea in the Americas, and in Europe. And in the case of Taiwan, with our very strong relationship that we’ve had with them, we’ve had the visit of two of their manufacturers to Belize twice. And they have done their survey of the country, and we have decided on the specifications for a tender that we hope will be taking place within the next couple weeks in Taiwan. Given our bilateral relationship that we have with them, economic cooperation they are considering twenty-four electric buses and charging stations via a grant to Belize. So that will take the fleet to pretty much one-third the size seventy-five buses that the NBC will be needing to be able to fully service all of its routes across the country.”

 

Zabaneh said the first twenty-four electric buses will be deployed in southern Belize alongside new charging stations, while the government continues seeking an additional fifty-one buses to expand the National Bus Company’s fleet.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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