But in Plan Belize, the PUP promised to have the entire bidding process for every contract available on the internet for both the public and the media to access. After four years, no such portal exists. Espat said it's aspirational, and they are aiming to reach that level of transparency.
Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing
"We have been open, whenever the media has requested any information from our ministry, we have provided them. In fact, Jules has requested contracts from us in the past, and we have provided it to him."
Courtney Menzies:
"But should we have to ask?"
Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing
"No. You are taking us to a level that we all want to achieve. And I believe, the government of Belize is presently working on that right now with the digitization of the entire ministries. It's not only MIDH, it's it's all ministries. And so they are working on a portal that is not specific per ministry. In fact, they have opened up a central procurement unit that is in charge of that under the Ministry of Finance. They're going through, I think the final phase is in how to address the digitization of contracts. But yes, it's important. But we have tried as best as we can to be as open as we possibly can."
Courtney Menzies:
"Based on that same central procurement unit, are you concerned that that will somehow slow down the process of procurement?"
Julius Espat, Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing
"You never know. I am not familiar with it to that extent, I can only speak as to the Ministry of Infrastructure. The bureaucracy in government is more than the private sector is used to. So, with our experience, it takes a while. If you centralize it, which is what the central procurement unit then proposes to do, and hopefully it is more efficient because you're dealing, you're pooling together talent to be able to make it faster. That's the concept. If it will work in that way, time will tell."
