2 months ago
6
The sale of the idea for a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for Belize’s public transportation sector continued today as the Minister of Transportation, Dr. Louis Zabaneh met with several stakeholders. This morning, the media was invited to an informational session at the Belize Biltmore Plaza where the minister explained that the program is currently in a phase where all bus operators are being given the opportunity to join the PPP voluntarily, with no penalties for those who choose not to participate.
Louis Zabeneh, Minster of Transport: “Everybody from day one has an opportunity to be a part of this. We don’t ask if you’re a PUP or UDP or if this or that. So I think that that is how we’d want to look at it, that everybody is getting this opportunity to come in. And it doesn’t mean that later on they cannot apply to be a part of it going forward, right? So, okay, I’m handing in my lease, my permit to the company just like everybody else did. And once there’s shares that are there that can be redistributed at a certain point then they get the chance to come in. So it’s not excluding them. It’s giving them, on the contrary, the freedom to decide if they have confidence in this structure or if they don’t. I’ve made it clear to all operators. I’ve met with them and some of them have said plain into us in our meetings “you’re supposed to have already heard that I support UDP from before, straight up.” And I said, well, that’s fine thank you for sharing that but that’s not my concern. We’re here to serve the public. Let us make that very clear that it’s not just UDP rides on you UDP bus if you wan to put it that way, it’s everybody and so we need to take the politics out of it and start to look at the best interest of our commuters.”
One bus owner, Joel Armstrong Sr., expressed support for the initiative, stating that the proposed framework aligns well with the needs of his business. He noted that the structure of the PPP is especially beneficial when it comes to addressing and managing vehicle repairs and damages.
Bus Operator: “The first thing, we will not wait around for dividends to come. We will work. We will work if we want it to happen. Because I must understand as a company I need to work harder. Just like when I owned my own. Even though it’s not going to be mine, but I will still have the pride and say, you know what Junior that bus was ours and it’s still ours but that together if we break down today we have another bus to put on the road tomorrow we don’t have to think about rent or whatever. I know some operators will be upset with my what I’m saying because they’ll say oh you’re a traitor because this or that. This is my personal view and I want to make it very clear I’m 100% in support of the association. I have been a part of it for x amount of years now and I believe that cooler heads will prevail at the end of the day it’s just a mater of understanding. Understanding in life is everything but sad to say that the more educated we get we get less understanding and it takes a humble man to understand what is happening.”
Zabaneh indicated that so far, majority of the support is coming from the owners in the south and the west. We understand that the plans to meet with union leaders but that did not materialize.
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