CitCo Allays Public Transportation Concerns

The past few weeks have seen concerns being raised by at least one bus company that has been operating in Belize City for several decades.  The operator of that business believes that he is being boxed out of the industry with the advent of the new e-buses and, despite assurances from CitCo, maintains that the company’s bottom line will be negatively affected.  Mayor Bernard Wagner told reporters this morning that City Hall cannot be consumed with the issues of one stakeholder.

 

Bernard Wagner, Belize City Mayor

“We are not looking to push anybody out.  It’s about inclusivity, it’s about engaging, but it has to be a situation where you look out for the best interest of your residents.  I can’t be concerned about the private sector driven entity.  I have to be concerned about sixty to seventy thousand people that live in my city and my city has been calling for years that they want this sort of transformation in the transport system and I’m so glad that we are finally here.  It’s a pilot project and I continue to dwell on that it’s a pilot project, let us see what the data shows.  You will get the financial model, you will get the operational model, you will get how the entire system works and thereafter, many of the bus operators that are here, that are making this ruckus, could now have in hand the sort of data to now go to the financial institutions.  The financial institutions want data, they will not invest or provide financing to any entity if there is not enough data to back the risk.”