And Williams also addressed the woeful state of the Belize City Bus Terminal. It's as run down as it ever was, perhaps even more so. Williams told us that funds have been earmarked to build a new terminal but the devil has been in the details:
Jules Vasquez
"Right now the complaints are that there are so many potholes in the taxing area for the buses. On Monday, I receive one saying that raw sewage was flowing out of the toilet, the restroom area. Certainly you may receive some of these complaints. We know that the woeful and dilapidated state of the terminal."
"What is your reaction to these complaints of inadequacies and what is the plan to address it near term, medium to long term?"
Chester Williams, CEO - Transport
"Jules, it is very unfortunate that our communities have to endure the pain of the usage of those terminal facilities, particularly in Belize City. I have said before that we are going to renovate the terminals."
"And that is being done. I am sure that you are aware that cabinet has approved the finance or the funds to retrofit the Belmopan and Belize City terminals. I wish that the process was more quicker because I have the money, right? I have the money, but I can't do nothing with the money until I can follow the process outlined in awarding of contracts to any contractor to undergo the retrofitting. So we are working with the Ministry of Infrastructure. We don't have any architect in our ministry. We don't have any builders in our ministry. And so we rely on Ministry of Infrastructure to do the architectural design for us in terms of what we want."
"The law requires that we must publish for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper. So I believe that if we were to get it done by the end of this month, we'll publish for three weeks in the month of February."
"In March we will do the site visit with those who have applied and then, perhaps the end of March, we do the opening of the bid, and I do not foresee us commencing the Belize City terminal before the end of this fiscal year. So I, I already know that the money that I have had to retrofit the terminal will not be spent in this fiscal year, so we will lose it, but certainly we will get it back."
Williams says work has already started on the refurbishing of the Belmopan Bus terminal.
