And it is those kinds of incidents that have the Minister demanding that BBA's buses improve. He's given them up until the end of the year to start upgrading, so that the ones that constantly break down, or have torn seats and windows that don't work, will soon be retired.
But the BBA has complained that the operators don't have the finances to upgrade their buses, especially with the newest contender, Floralia. That's why they wrote to the UNDP requesting buses to be given as grants.
Today we got the Minister's view on this, and he insisted that the buses must be improved at any cost.
Hon. Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Transport
"You have the right as an operator to seek financing, if grant financing or you have to pay back. They approach UNDP and UNDP is saying I think they are getting the funds from European Union as a grant for certain projects in Belize. So she don't believe that the European Union can give a grant of maybe 25-30 million as they desire. But maybe if they negotiate properly, they might get a grant portion of it and the rest will be paid back over a period of time, but they are trying their best to figure what is the way forward and I'm not here to bash the operators, but to support them and see how they can improve. But they must improve."
"They recognize that they must improve, they want to improve. They are not shying away from it, but some of them are saying where are we going to find the funds. So I hope that the meeting with the UNDP progresses and something positive come out of it to be able to we can help you through some other organization to get the money to purchase your busses. If that does not happen, my positions stands that December 2022 I want to see some improved busses in this country."
